Generation Next - Johnson Graduate School of Management

Transcription

enterprise
CORNELL
T H E J O H N S O N S C H O O L AT
SPRING 2006
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
The Color of Money
Marketers grapple with challenges
of reaching diverse audiences
Big Bucks
and Boardrooms
Generation
Next
Johnson School alumni put
leadership and passion
to work for youth
Research reveals unprecedented
growth in executive compensation
Gone Global
EMBA students learn firsthand
how to do business overseas
Johnson Turns 60
A look back through the decades
FROM
Welcome to a whole new look
This issue of Cornell
Enterprise celebrates the 60th
anniversary of the Johnson
collaborative community and Cornell connections that have always
characterized a Johnson School education have not changed.
Our first alumni magazine, then called Cornell Executive,
School’s founding in 1946. It also
was launched in 1974. This, too, has evolved in response
marks the first major redesign
to changing times. In redesigning this magazine, we have retained the
of the magazine in ten years.
high-quality writing and graphics that have earned Cornell
Both events — in their own way
Enterprise high ratings from our alumni for being “informative” and
— invite us to consider the foun-
“interesting.” Our readers’ survey last year documented that Cornell
dations on which we stand and
Enterprise has a dedicated, loyal readership. At the same time,
remind us of the goals toward
many readers asked for more substantive, practical articles about the
which we strive.
“real-world” applications of the faculty’s research, and more in-depth
The Cornell University
analysis on current topics. They also asked for more articles about
faculty recommended the
alumni, particularly ones that would provide networking opportuni-
establishment of a school
ties, as well as more short, concise, stories. You will find all that in
of business and public administration in December 1941,
States entered World War II. In
August 1946, not long after the
war ended, the Cornell School
of Business and Public Administration opened. Then, as now,
In redesigning this magazine, we have
retained the high-quality writing and
graphics that have earned Cornell
Enterprise high ratings from our alumni
for being “informative” and “interesting.”
Dean: Dede Hatch
three days after the United
the school’s faculty and students were looking to the future,
anticipating and responding to their society’s emerging needs for
intellectual acuity, dynamic scholarship, and practical vision.
The past half-century has brought changes in business and
this issue, and in the issues to come. You will notice new departments
society that few could have anticipated in 1946. While their focus
to better organize the content for easy access. You will also notice
was national, ours is global. While they were housed in McGraw Hall,
that we have updated the design, tying it more closely to the school’s
along with the Geology Department and its museum of rocks and
branding initiative and our new logo, and better capturing the
fossils, we are the proud stewards of Sage Hall, an equally historic
intellectual vibrancy and practical sophistication that characterizes
building rebuilt with state-of-the-art technologies that enable our
the Johnson School community.
faculty and students to access up-to-the-minute market information
Our work on the initiatives outlined in the school’s five-year
and communicate in real time across the globe. While they developed
strategic plan continues to propel us toward our goal: to build
functional expertise in finance, marketing, accounting, and opera-
and sustain our worldwide reputation as a top-ten business school.
tions, we have organized our MBA program and centers of research,
In this issue, we look toward that future while also documenting
teaching, and practice to provide innovative cross-functional
the strong foundation built during sixty years of graduate
experiences as well, in areas such as entrepreneurship, sustainable
business education at Cornell.
global business, science and technology, and leadership. The intense,
Robert J. Swieringa
Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean
www.johnson.cornell.edu
1
enterprise
CORNELL
SPRING 2006 VOL. 20, NO. 2
Generation Next
24
Johnson School alumni put their
leadership abilities, business
skills, quick wits, and passion
to work for the benefit of young
people around the country.
The Color
of Money
30
Marketers grapple with challenges
of reaching diverse audiences.
Johnson Turns 60
20
A timeline highlights some of the events
and people that have helped to shape
the Johnson School.
2
cornell enterprise • spring 2006
36
Big Bucks and
Boardrooms
Professor Yaniv Grinstein’s research
reveals unprecedented growth
in executive compensation.
Gone Global
EMBA students learn firsthand how
to do business in another country.
38
Departments
From the Dean
1
Tech Know
13
Inside Johnson
4
Vantage Point
14
Bottom Line
16
Startups
18
Welcome to a whole new look
First in finance, Boardroom EMBA
goes West, #9 in preparing global
leaders, and more
Business Roundtable
What makes a startup hot?
Startup Snapshots
Data-Base
American Innovative and
Simply Audiobooks
Johnson School students at a glance
Newsmakers
Class Notes
Alumni Profiles
Heffetz on gilded food, Swieringa
on science, Frank on Bernanke,
TMOs in biotech, and more
Intellectual Capital
10
Job Talk
12
Finding the right fit:
Predicting job satisfaction
Clint Sidle: Five steps for saving the
American auto industry
Hedge funds: The cat is out of the bag
Durland Lecture: Sharon Allen,
chair of Deloitte & Touche USA:
Work-life balance and ethics
Happy anniversary to Hal Bierman,
Glass shape influences how much
you drink
Nanotech: Not just for Star Wars anymore
On the Cover: Erin McMahon, MBA ’03, at Eleanor Roosevelt
High School, where she is preparing to open a new public
school with a business focus. Photographer: Ed Eckstein
44
Arete Passas, MBA ’79:
The business of play
Rand Wentworth, MBA ’82:
Champion of green acres
Reid Genauer, MBA ’02:
Jam band brander
3
INSIDE
First in finance
The last weekend in February saw another feather in the
hat of the Johnson School and
its hardworking students, when
a team of five MBA candidates
won a finance case competition
in Pittsburgh — the school’s first
top finish in the competition.
Teams from four top
in the 14th annual Corporate
Finance Case Competition
at Carnegie Mellon University
on February 25. Archil Gachechiladze, Ralph Leung, Kiran
Robert Barker/CU
business schools competed
Professor Yaniv Grinstein (far left) with the winners of Carnegie Mellon’s Corporate Finance Case
Competition (left to right) Kiran Prasad, Ralph Leung, and Archil Gachechiladze, all MBA ’06,
Justin Charise, MBA ’07 and Sendur Sellakumar, MBA ’06.
Prasad, Sendur Sellakumar, all
MBA ’06, and Justin Charise,
MBA ’07, represented the Johnson School. They competed against
“If there was a key to our success, obviously it was the second years’
teams from the business schools of Northwestern University, Carn-
experience, and the fact that we had strong chemistry as a team,”
egie Mellon, and New York University. The Johnson School’s Professor
Charise said. “We had mutual respect and strong, constructive debate,
Yaniv Grinstein served on the judging panel.
but we each had the trust and respect to come up with a consensus.”
“NYU is known for a strong finance program; Carnegie Mellon
for its quantitative program,” said Justin Charise, the team’s only firstyear member. “I knew we had a great team, but it would be a close
competition. Every team had a lot to offer.”
The teams convened at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, and received
Boardroom EMBA goes West
The Boardroom Executive MBA program has been approved
a Harvard Business School case requiring them to recommend
for offer in Washington state. “This enables our participants
a financing strategy for an aluminum-production concern in the
in Washington state to earn their MBA without disrupting their
Middle East. Each team had six hours to come up with a financing
careers, and without requiring frequent trips to the Cornell campus,”
solution. Their only tools: laptops with PowerPoint and Excel,
says Danny Szpiro, director of the Boardroom EMBA program.
a printer, a finance textbook, and Excel templates with the Black-
The Boardroom EMBA is also available to participants in New York
Scholes Option Pricing Model.
State, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and locations across Canada.
The Johnson School team put together a rough timeline for its
The Boardroom EMBA, offered in partnership with Queen’s
six hours, assigned roles, and got to work. “We originally planned for
School of Business at Queen’s University (Kingston, Ont.), is a geo-
45 minutes to rehearse our presentation, but we ended up working
graphically-diverse, team-based program in which students all over
to the last minute,” Charise said.
North America connect with each other and with faculty via state-
Professionalism of presentation was one of three judging criteria
of-the-art, real-time, fully interactive videoconferencing technology.
for the competition, along with quality of analysis and responsiveness
Participants from across the United States and Canada are organized
to judges’ questions and comments. Yet lack of rehearsal time didn’t
into Boardroom Learning Teams of approximately 6 –8 people, and
hurt the Johnson School’s team, for they won first place.
each team is assigned a boardroom location in the city where the
participants live and work. The Boardroom EMBA was featured
in the fall 2004 issue of Cornell Enterprise. For more information
on the program visit www.johnson.cornell.edu/academic/boardroom.
4
Sawyer named director of admissions
#9 in Preparing global leaders
Randall Sawyer was ap-
The Johnson School has placed #9 in the world and #6 among
U.S. schools in the World Resources Institute and Aspen Institute’s
tor of Admissions and Financial
2005 Beyond Grey Pinstripes (BGP) ranking. The BGP ranking is the
Aid for the Johnson School. In
only global ranking that evaluates MBA programs for their efforts
his former role as the school’s
to prepare students to be leaders in the global economy, and equip
public relations officer, Sawyer
was known for his
Dede Hatch/CU
pointed in February to be direc-
them with an understanding of the social, environmental,
and economic perspectives needed for business success.
substantial contributions
Ranking criteria include: courses with social and environmental
in positioning the Johnson School with the media and with internal
content (number of courses, percentage of time in the curriculum
and external stakeholders. He actively promoted the school’s faculty,
dedicated to these topics, and course content) and faculty publications
alumni, students, and corporate communications and events.
in these fields.
Sawyer brings to his new position twelve years of marketing and
The Johnson School is noted both for offering a large number of
communications experience in the public sector, including several
courses that address social and environmental issues in business and
years as director of public information for the New York State Office
for the large proportion of its
of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, followed by a term as
students who take those classes.
assistant commissioner of public affairs for the New York State Office
In addition, the school’s Center
of General Services. “Randall’s positive rapport with so many diverse
for Sustainable Global Enter-
audiences and his master’s degree in communication make him well
prise is cited for using “cutting-
equipped for the job,” says Dick Shafer, associate dean for Corporate
edge research, outreach, and
Relations. “He knows the school well, and perhaps as much as anyone
engagement to connect students
has his finger on the pulse of what is happening across a variety
with leading companies and
of areas in the Johnson School.”
develop unique projects with
partners around the world.”
The faces of the Lindseth legacy
enterprise
CORNELL
Spring 2006: Vol. 20, No. 2
Cornell Enterprise is published twice
a year by the Johnson Graduate School
of Management at Cornell University.
Dean
Robert Swieringa
Director of Marketing and
Communications
Rick Sweeney
Editor
Janice Endresen
Staff Writer
Shannon Dortch
Class Notes and Copy Editor
Tanis Furst
Design
Warkulwiz Design Associates
Kevis Stearns/CU
We welcome feedback from readers.
On Feb. 7, Robert Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Johnson
Graduate School of Business, met — for the first time — Jon and Virginia “Ginny”
Lindseth, both ’56, the couple who in 1989 endowed the dean’s chair, named for
Jon Lindseth’s parents. The Lindseths were on campus with their family for the
Class of 2006 Senior Class Campaign for Cornell kickoff, at which their son,
Andrew Lindseth ’79, announced a gift made in honor of Jon and Ginny by their
children: the “Lindseth Challenge,” a $25,000 endowment to be matched with
small student donations.
Address letters to:
Cornell Enterprise
The Johnson School at Cornell University
130 E. Seneca Street, Suite 400
Ithaca, N.Y. 14850–4353
Phone: 800 847–2082; 607 255 –3096
Fax: 607 255 –1858
E-mail: [email protected].
Letters may be edited for clarity
and length.
©2006 The Johnson School
at Cornell University
ISSN 0741 6989
5
INSIDE
In memoriam: senior lecturer Alan Pike
Alan Pike, 65, a senior lecturer in communication who taught
“He was very engaged with his students and they with him,”
generations of business leaders at Cornell University’s Johnson
said Professor L. Joseph Thomas, associate dean for academic affairs.
Graduate School of Management, died of heart failure Jan. 7
“Alan touched the lives of many Cornell students, colleagues,
in his Ithaca home.
and friends with his enthusiasm and generosity,” said Charlotte Rosen,
Born in Flushing, N.Y., on Jan. 15, 1940, Pike graduated from
senior lecturer and director of communications programs
Yale University in 1961. After serving as an officer in the United States
at the Johnson School.
Navy, he came to Cornell in 1966 and in 1969 completed a master’s
An avid outdoorsman, Pike also helped create and coordinate the
degree in English literature.
Johnson School’s Outdoor Leadership/Team Development Program
He taught courses on literature
(from 1987 to 2001), which introduced MBA students to the dynamics
and values, freshman humani-
of leadership in wilderness environments.
ties seminars, and creative
In addition, he designed and taught courses in management
writing and oral communication in the school’s Executive Develop-
Department of English before
ment Program, Cornell Adult University, the Syracuse University
joining the Johnson School
Executive MBA Program, and the Binghamton University School
Dede Hatch
writing in the university’s
faculty in 1980 and helping
of Management Business Communication Institute. He also consulted
to develop the school’s then-
on management communications with such companies as IBM
nascent management communication program.
and Fleet Financial Group.
At the Johnson School, he designed and taught oral communi-
In all those roles and others, Pike invigorated the lives of many
cation and management writing courses to MBA students until his
— former students, friends, and family — with his wisdom,
retirement in May 2005. A popular teacher, he thrived on his interac-
hearty bear hugs, culinary finesse, and spirited gorge walks —
tions with his students. He routinely made the top of the list in their
usually accompanied by his dog, Cobie.
teaching evaluations, and his courses were usually oversubscribed.
— Linda Myers, Cornell News Service
Data-Base
Johnson School students at a glance
Class year and program
Class size
Average age
Students with full-time work experience
Average years of work experience
Median GMAT score
Advanced degrees
Median GPA
Women students
Minority students
International students
MBA Class
of 2007
262
26
98%
4
660
MBA Class
of 2006
261
27
98%
4
680
3.3
28%
20%
25%
3.2
31%
19%
28%
TMO Class
of 2006
27
29
100%
6
690
100%
3.4
19%
11%
30%
*Percentage of international students is high this year because more students from Canada are enrolled via the Cornell-Queens partnership
6
EMBA Class
of 2007
49
35
100%
12
NA
21%
NA
14%
22%
NA
Boardroom EMBA
Class of 2007
61
37
100%
14
NA
20%
NA
15%
29%
84% *
Business Roundtable
Work-life balance and ethics: a nexus worth noticing
Sharon Allen came to the Johnson School to tell her story — what
Allen’s answer: not really. “What you can do is create an envi-
her chief of staff calls “Boise to Boardroom.” Yet the Idaho-born-and-
ronment that discourages wrong behavior,” she said. “But it will not
raised chairman of the board
prevent fraud from taking place — especially collusive fraud,
of directors of Deloitte
because these are personal decisions.”
Robert Barker/CU
& Touche USA LLP couldn’t
Sharon Allen, chairman of the
board of directors, Deloitte and
Touche USA, delivered the 19th
annual Durland Lecture on the
Cornell campus Feb. 28.
Deloitte & Touche’s program to reduce the likelihood
escape comment on the legacy
of employee misconduct seems counterintuitive — offer workers
of misconduct that taints
a career that can adapt to their changing needs, and the firm gains
all the nation’s largest account-
greater retention and a more ethical work force.
ing concerns. And she really
“You can’t legislate ethics — choosing the right course of action
didn’t want to.
will always come down to a personal choice,” Allen said. “But main-
Her best thinking on keeping
taining a proper balance in your life makes the right choice easier.”
her firm of 33,000 out of ethical
Twelve years ago, Deloitte introduced its Initiative for the
hot water dovetails with
Advancement and Retention of Women, to respond to female profes-
her personal professional
sionals’ demands for greater advancement and more flexible work
philosophy: “Be true to yourself,
arrangements. The firm’s latest flexibility initiative is “Personal Pur-
do the right thing, and always act with integrity.”
suits,” which offers qualifying workers up to five years off,
With the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,
while keeping them connected to the firm.
which this year requires all publicly traded companies to report
But even her belief that Deloitte & Touche is building the most
on their internal accounting controls to the Securities and Exchange
ethically healthy work force possible does not allow Allen serenity
Commission, accountants who behave badly can receive stiff penal-
in today’s climate of accounting scandal. “There will be mistakes,
ties, just as their employers can. Won’t that greatly reduce the kind
because everything we do is a human endeavor,” she said.
of misconduct that brought down accounting giant Arthur Andersen?
Philanthropy Report corrections
Capitalizing on innovation
The Office of Development and Alumni Affairs sincerely thanks
our fiscal year 2005 donors appearing in the recently published
Philanthropy at the Johnson School: Report of Giving 2004–05. The
success of the Johnson School is in large part due to the contributions from alumni and friends. We would like to correct some
errors that occurred in the report and give proper recognition to
the following people:
Class of 1971
Robert Barker/CU
Robert P. Marangell ’70, MBA ’71
Archil Gachechiladze, MBA ’06, discussed venture capital opportunities and risks in Eastern Europe as a member of the panel on Investing
in Emerging Markets at the student-organized “Capitalizing on Innovation” symposium on March 31. The Entrepreneurship and Venture
Capital Club and Net Impact sponsored the event as part of the first
annual Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration. The symposium
featured panel discussions with leading venture capitalists and entrepreneurs from across the U.S. and the world. Gachechiladze spoke
about his extensive venture capital experience in the former Soviet
Bloc country of Georgia. Emerging Markets panelists included (left to
right) Scott Johnson of SC Johnson, Eric Young of Canaan Partners,
Gachechiladze, and Raj Alur, MBA ’95, of Vesbridge Partners.
Class of 1995
Leslie D. Gorman ’94, MBA ’95, JD ’97
Dean’s Circle
James S. Weaver Jr. ’54, MBA ’59
F. Warren Ellish ’77, MBA ’78
Tower Club
Robert P. Marangell ’70, MBA ’71
Quadrangle Club
Leslie D. Gorman ’94, MBA ’95, JD ’97
Matching Gift Companies
Triad Foundation
Visiting Executive Program
Jeffrey F. Berg ’79, MEng ’80, MBA ’81
7
INSIDE
Newsmakers
Gilded food
Taxes, death, and the new Fed chairman
The Washington Post quotes economics professor Ori Heffetz
Economics Professor Robert Frank, oft-quoted on luxury spend-
in a story about the proliferation of edible metals floating
ing and high-income consumers, is himself the focus of a new line
other edibles (Dec. 18). Sprinkles,
of media inquiry. Frank is quoted in a half-dozen news articles about
petals, and leaves made of
the new Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, with whom
pure silver and almost-pure
he coauthored an economics textbook, Principles of Economics. He was
(23 carat) gold soft enough to
interviewed on PBS’ “Nightly Business Report” (Jan. 25), and his com-
melt in your mouth are used
ments on the new Fed chairman appear in the New York Times
to create a flavorless, odorless,
(Oct. 25); the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis (Feb. 1, 2006); the Sacramento
ediblegold.com
in and around cocktails and
and calorie-free garnish that is
becoming increasingly popular
Bee Jan. 29); the New Zealand Herald (Feb. 18); and Associated Press
Newswires (Jan. 29).
Frank remains a leading
with wealthy diners. A study
by Heffetz found that as income increases, the wealthy spend more
expert on luxury spending and
money, and more of it on high visibility luxuries.
is quoted on the topic in the New
York Times (Jan. 14, Feb. 2, and
Feb. 10); the Economist (Dec. 24);
Assistant Professor of Finance Yaniv Grinstein continues to
and Management Today (Feb. 7).
make waves with his groundbreaking research on executive compen-
Other article topics featur-
sation. Grinstein and his work, in collaboration with Lucian Bebchuk
ing Frank include the potential
of Harvard University, are cited in the New York Times (Jan. 5, Jan. 11,
effect of rising gas prices on fuel
and March 5); the Wall Street Journal (Jan. 11 and Jan. 21); the Sacramento
consumption, in Business Week
Bee (Feb. 6); and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (March 8), among others. For
(Sept. 19); the limited role
more information on Grinstein’s research, see “Big Bucks and Board-
of money in securing happiness,
rooms,” on page 36.
in the Christian Science Monitor
(Dec. 5); tipping with no economic incentive, in the Financial
Venture capital to the fore
An article in Mass High Tech on how academic and medical
institutions address a shortage of venture capital to get nascent tech-
Dede Hatch/CU
Escalating executive earnings
Professor Robert Frank
Times (Dec. 23); and research
by him on workers’ willingness to take less money in order
nologies from lab to start-up
to have jobs that allow them to feel good about themselves,
plugs Cornell University’s
rather than choosing to earn more with “bad guy” organizations,
Entrepreneurship Triad (March
in Management Today (Jan. 16).
6). Johnson School students
A study by Frank and two collaborators on how perceptions
manage two pillars of the triad
of another’s moral character
— BR Ventures and BR Incuba-
can influence our economic
tor. BR Legal, the third pillar, is sponsored jointly by Cornell’s Univer-
decisions is covered by the
sity-wide Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program (EPE),
NewsRx.com service (Nov. 5),
the Johnson School, and the Cornell Law School.
and appears in eight specialized
science publications.
Swieringa on science
In a video interview in Business Week Online (March 10),
8
Frank continues to write
prolifically in a regular column
Dean Robert Swieringa discusses the Johnson School’s planned Center
for the New York Times,
for the Business of Science and Technology and talks about how MBA
and he is also a frequent con-
students can advance a company’s science and technology initiatives.
tributor to the Wall Street Journal.
Recent New York Times pieces include one touting a federal gasoline
My life as a first-year
tax as a way to ease numerous economic and environmental problems
Kate Ngo, MBA ’07, is one of six MBA students from across the
(Feb. 16), and another on how financial considerations affect decisions
country selected by Business Week Online’s “MBA Journal” to provide
to continue or discontinue life support for indigent patients (Jan. 19).
regular accounts of her MBA experiences. Following is an excerpt
from her February 2006 entry:
Professor Stuart Hart
“Arriving home later from
Stuart Hart, Samuel C. Johnson
school than I expected, I dump
Chair in Sustainable Global
my bag on the floor and make
Enterprise, is quoted extensive-
a mad dash for the closet.
ly in Financial Times articles on
I am a little angry with myself
strategies for reducing poverty
that I did not plan in advance.
(Sept. 14), and on how corpora-
If I didn’t dress for business
tions can partner with small,
casual during the day, I should
community organizations
have at least listened to my sec-
to solve larger issues, such as
ond-year peers — always keep
poor nutrition among young
a suit in your locker. The Cornell
people in developing countries
network remains one of its
(Jan. 26).
strongest virtues, and opportu-
Jason Koski/CU
Dede Hatch/CU
Pummeling poverty
Kate Ngo, MBA ’07
nities to meet speakers,
TMOs make top biotech execs
recruiters, and alumni are everywhere. Nonetheless, these events are
A front-page article in the San Diego Business Journal about the
so numerous that not all of them make your radar. I am done with
impact of the Johnson School’s Twelve-Month Option (TMO) program
class, team meetings, and club projects for the day, but I have
on San Diego’s biotech industry features TMO graduates Zhu Shen,
15 minutes to change and run back to the Statler Hotel,
MBA ’98, senior director of business development at Immusol,
where a corporate briefing and reception are scheduled….
Soorena Izadifar, MBA ’05, Immusol’s manager of business develop-
Thanks to the Career Management Center, second-year mentors,
ment, Brian Culley, MBA ’02, vice president of business development
and student-run organizations (i.e., Marketing Association; Consulting
for Adventrx, and Carmine Stengone, MBA ’03, vice president
Club; Old Ezra Finance Club; Operations and General Management
of business development at Anadys, (Feb. 1). All four moved to the
Club; and Strategic HR, Leadership, and Organizational Effectiveness),
San Diego area to work in the biotech industry after earning their
first-years have a variety of resources. Not only are we prepped
MBAs from the Johnson School. “The closeness of the Cornell alumni
on industry knowledge, but we are also exposed early to the formali-
here has meant rapid career progress for the East Coasters,” states the
ties, intricacies and oddities of the recruiting process….
article, then quotes Culley to prove the point: “Zhu helped me,
This is the third briefing I’ve attended this week, and if anything,
I helped Carmine, and Carmine and I helped Soorena.”
I am becoming better at knowing what I want to do, and most
Noting that he selected San Diego because of “ample opportuni-
importantly, what I don’t.”
ties in both biotech and tech with exposure to big pharma,
To read Ngo’s entries about her life at the Johnson School,
mid-sized biotech, emerging biotech, and startups,” Stengone also
go to http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/mbajournal
added that “Even though we only spent one winter in Ithaca,
and click on “Kate.”
the frigid days only strengthen one’s resolve to work and live
Melissa Jacobs
in sunny southern California.”
Left: Zhu Shen, MBA ’98, Immusol, Inc. senior director of business
development (far right) and Soorena Izadifar, MBA ’05, business
development manager (left), with the company’s associate director
of virology, Rene Rijnbrand. The photo originally appeared on the
front page of the San Diego Business Journal.
9
INTELLECTUAL
Happy anniversary, Hal: Bierman celebrates 50 years — and counting
In 1956, Hal Bierman, an assistant professor at the University
According to Bierman, if there’s just one thing that Johnson
of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, arrived at his new office
School alumni remember, it’s the faculty’s open-door policy.
on the top floor of McGraw Hall. Thus began a 50-year relationship
“Other schools became
between Bierman, the Johnson
friendlier because the rankings
School, and thousands of MBA
demanded it,” he says. “But we’ve
students. “I stayed,” Bierman
always had it — it’s a decent
says, “and never with a regret.”
thing to do.”
Professor Hal Bierman
teaching in 1956
Harold Bierman, Jr.,
for Ithaca, his move was not
the Nicholas H. Noyes Professor
a clear career advancement.
of Business Administration,
In 1956, Cornell’s Business
has authored 27 books and
School was a fairly young
nearly 200 articles in the fields
organization, and not sure of its
of accounting, finance, invest-
identity. But Chicago’s simmer-
ment, taxation, and quanti-
ing summers and frigid winters
tative analysis. In 1985, he
made even Ithaca’s weather
received the Dow Jones Award
appealing to Bierman and
from the American Assem-
his wife.
bly of Collegiate Schools of
The young finance professor
Frank DiMeo/CU
Sol Goldberg/CU
When Bierman left Chicago
Business for his outstanding
Professor Hal Bierman today
was pleased as punch with his
contributions to collegiate
office digs under the rafters
management education. But perhaps the very qualities he identi-
of McGraw Hall, largely due to his only neighbor — Seymour Smidt,
fies in the Johnson School — friendliness, decency, scholarship, and
who retired from the Johnson School in 2005. There was just one
above all, commitment to his students — are what most endear him
problem: the two colleagues had only one escape route, in the event
to thousands of MBAs.
of a fire. “I had just gotten out of the Navy, so I was conscious of fire
drills, and there was no way out,” says Bierman, a U.S. Naval Academy
Professor Bierman celebrates his 50th year on the faculty
in July 2006. He can be reached at [email protected].
graduate. “It was splendid, except I wanted a rope, in case of a fire.”
—Shannon Dortch
Bierman has occupied offices in three different buildings on
Room, the building’s beautiful faculty lounge. He has known eight
deans, beginning with Edward H. Litchfield, the School’s flamboyant
second dean. He witnessed campus unrest in the 1970s, the Johnson
School’s ascendancy to a top-10 position, and the construction of its
magnificent state-of-the art facility in a historic structure.
Yet, even with changes on campus and in the world, much about
the Johnson School has remained constant over Bierman’s 50 years
at Cornell. Dedication to the solid basics of an MBA education never
sways, he says. “We may teach a little better than in the past,
but we’ve never gone head over heels for a fad.”
Bierman also praises the school’s long-standing policy
of rationing required courses in the first year of the MBA program,
and freeing the second year for electives: “It’s better not to over-specify
coursework, and put every student in lock step. Offering choices
in courses is an effective way to design a curriculum.”
10 cornell enterprise • spring 2006
Stayman named dean of curriculum
Doug Stayman, associate professor of marketing and a faculty
member at the Johnson School since 1990, was named associate dean
for curriculum in February. His new responsibilities include coordinating the first- and second-year curriculum, and overseeing faculty
teaching assignments. He also hires and works with lecturers,
adjunct and visiting faculty, and conducts the teaching assistant
workshops. As an associate dean, Stayman joins the Johnson School’s
Management Committee. Joe
Thomas, associate dean for
academic affairs, continues to
coordinate faculty research,
tenure-track faculty hiring and
promotions, faculty committee
assignments, faculty evaluations, and other faculty issues.
Dede Hatch
campus, including Mallot Hall, where he often ate lunch in the Collyer
Glass shape influences how much you drink
When pouring liquor, even professional bartenders unintention-
bartenders (with an average six years experience — 38 percent
ally pour 20 to 30 percent more into short, squat glasses than into tall,
of them female) to pour a shot (1.5 oz.) of spirits into either short,
thin ones, according to a new Cornell University study.
wide tumblers or tall, thin highball glasses.
“Yet, people who pour into short, wide glasses consistently
The college students consistently poured 30 percent more
believe that they pour less than those who pour into tall, narrow
alcohol into the short glasses than into the tall, and the bartenders
glasses,” said Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Market-
poured 20 percent more.
ing, Applied Economics and of Nutritional Science at Cornell, who
When the researchers asked one group of students to practice
also holds a joint appointment as adjunct professor of marketing at
10 times before the actual pour, they still poured 26 percent more
the Johnson School. “And education, practice, concentration and
into the short glasses. When the researchers asked one group of
experience don’t correct the overpouring.”
bartenders to “please take your time,” the bartenders took twice as
long to pour the drink, but still
poured 10 percent more into the
short glasses.
The authors concluded that
because people generally consume most — about 92 percent
— of what they serve themselves, the issue of pouring
accuracy is relevant to policy
makers, health professionals,
consumers, law enforcement
officials, and alcohol addiction
and abuse counselors. They
note, for example, that the
hospitality industry wants to
control serving sizes and thus
costs, those in public policy
want to minimize waste, and
Jason Koski/CU
health professionals want to
Professor Brian Wansink’s study showed that people over-pour into short, squat glasses by 20 to 30
percent, compared with tall, thin glasses, probably because the vertical-horizontal optical illusion
consistently causes people to perceive vertical lines as longer than horizontal ones of the same length.
The reason for the difference, Wansink speculates, is the classic vertical-horizontal optical illusion: People consistently perceive
equally sized vertical lines as longer than horizontal ones.
“People generally estimate tall glasses as holding more liquid
than wide ones of the same volume,” Wansink said. “They also focus
their pouring attention on the height of the liquid they are pouring
and insufficiently compensate for its width.”
In separate experiments, the researchers asked 198 college
students (43 percent female) of legal drinking age and 86 professional
discourage over-consumption.
Advice from Wansink
for bars and restaurants and
for those who don’t want to
unintentionally drink too much:
“Use tall glasses or glasses
with alcohol-level marks etched on them.” For parents? Use tall, thin
glasses when pouring soda but short, wide glasses for milk and other
healthful drinks.
Wansink, author of the new book Marketing Nutrition: Soy,
Functional Foods, Biotechnology and Obesity, is also director of the
Cornell Food and Brand Lab, made up of an interdisciplinary group
of researchers who have conducted more than 200 studies on the
psychology behind what, and how often, people eat.
— Susan S. Lang, Cornell News Service
11
JOB
Finding the right fit: predicting job satisfaction
W
hether you’re a newly minted MBA looking for that first job out
of life, including relationships with coworkers, family, and friends,”
the door, or a seasoned professional scouting for a better opportu-
says Karin Ash, director of the Career Management Center. “The right
nity or a shift in career direction, it’s crucial to your job satisfaction
— and, ultimately,
job fit fosters good mental health, good productivity, better compensation, and greater success.”
your success — to select
the job that’s just the
to list the pros and cons about your current position that will help you
right fit for you.
to define the job that you really want, advises Ash. If you’re consider-
Dede Hatch
“It’s very important
Karin Ash
If you find that you’re not in the ideal job now, take the time
ing a switch to a different industry, “hold many information
that people feel chal-
interviews,” she says. “Talk to people in the field you think you want
lenged and passionate
to enter and learn as much as you can.”
about the work that they
Fit has a lot to do with your coworkers and the culture
do, or it can affect
of the workplace, things that are hard to discern in advance,
so many other aspects
notes Ash. However, she also pinpoints many important aspects
of a job fit that you can investigate beforehand in the quiz, below.
Stephanie Carter/Images.com
Take this quiz
to determine whether a prospective job will
be a good fit for you >>
Yes No
Does the company inspire you?
• Are you enthusiastic about the
company’s product(s)?
• Will you have the level of responsibility
you are seeking?
• Will you be given the training you need
to perform your responsibilities well?
• Will you be provided with the training
necessary to further develop your skills
and expand your skill set?
•
• Will you have the opportunity to work
on projects that advance your career
in the direction you want to take?
• Will the job provide you with the intellectual
challenge that you’re seeking?
• Will you have the level of autonomy you seek?
Yes No
• Is having a mentor important to you?
If so, does the workplace offer
prospective mentors?
• Do the demands of the job match the level
of work and life balance you seek?
• Will you have the time you want to satisfy
aspects of your life apart from work?
Will you be able to plan your life
around your work?
• If work demands are likely to be
unpredictable, are you okay with that?
• Is there support for dual career issues?
•
Is there geographical flexibility?
• Is there a viable career path with this
employer? Can you expect to be promoted?
• Will you be provided with the opportunity
for dialogue about your performance?
•
If you can answer yes to most of these questions — especially
to the ones that matter to you the most — chances are you’ve
found a great fit. Go for it!
TECH
Nanotech: not just for
Star Wars anymore
to solving problems now that
we are able to work and see
at smaller resolution on the
atomic scale.”
By Alan Breznick
Chin does not count
Stain-resistant pants with tiny nanowhiskers that protect
clothing fabric. Hypoallergenic sunscreens with atomic nanoparticles
science’s more wide-eyed
that filter out harmful ultraviolet (UV) light rays. Tires containing
proponents, who believe that
carbon black compounds that boost car traction and handling.
nanotech will solve all of the
Paving stones coated with nanoparticles that break down air pollut-
world’s problems. But neither
ants from car emissions. Bathroom toilets that can clean themselves.
does she agree with many
These are five of the initial products that the much-hyped but
of the discipline’s loudest critics
often misunderstood field of nanotechnology has already given the
that nanotech will destroy the
world. They are likely just the beginning. Thanks to ever-increasing
world “with the threat
research and technology development at the atomic, molecular,
of nanobots running amuck.”
and macromolecular levels, nanotech is starting to churn out scores
of promising drugs, materials, substances, devices, and other products.
Take the emerging supply of synthetic antibiotics, for example.
Courtesy of Peal Chin
herself among some of the
Pearl Chin, MBA ’00, managing
director of Seraphima Ventures,
draws on her background in materials science, engineering, chemistry,
and business to assess and advise
nanotech startups.
Instead, she sees nanotech steadily producing more useful
products, as both public and private R&D spending climb
over the next few years. Indeed, Seraphima Ventures’ Web site
Using cutting-edge nanotech
(www.seraphimaventures.com)
methods to work at the micro-
lists a dozen startups that the
scopic molecular level, chemists
“The most common misconception is that
we will have to wait 20 to 50 years before
we will see any products and benefits
from nanotechnology.”
have crafted a new line of
antibiotics that can tackle methicillan-resistant staph bacteria
selectively and with greater
effectiveness than the drugs
consulting firm is now advising.
The lineup includes companies
developing everything from
puncture-proof surgical gloves
and optical tweezers to handheld explosive detection devices
now being used. The researchers
and nanotubes for military uses.
rely on nano-sized plastic balls with drugs chemically bonded
“These companies all produce real products to sell,” the Sera-
to their surface to deliver the medicine to the bacteria cells.
phima site notes. “They do not just have IP. Most will be producing
Pearl Chin, MBA ’00, knows all about nanotech’s vast potential.
As managing director of Seraphima Ventures, a New York-based
revenues within two years and three companies are already
producing revenues.”
financial consulting firm that evaluates and advises nanotech
Citing figures from the National Science and Technology Council
startups, she spends her days and nights checking out investment
and other sources, Chin notes that the U.S. government now spends
opportunities in the burgeoning field.
about $1 billion a year on nanotech research, or about 25 percent
“The ability to manipulate matter at the very smallest levels
of the total spent on the science by all national governments
gives us so much better and tailored control at designing technology
worldwide. Various industry projections call for global government
solutions,” says Chin, who also sports a PhD in materials science and
spending to jump to $6 billion this year, on top of the estimated
engineering from the University of Delaware and a BE in chemical
$18 billion that has been invested so far.
engineering from Cooper Union. “Nanotechnology is just an approach
At the same time, Chin points out, U.S. institutional venture
capitalists pumped about $480 million into nanotech startups last
Government Funding of Nanotech R&D by Region of World
year, up from $410 million in 2004. She cites market analyst estimates
(in millions of U.S. dollars)
2000
2001
2002
2003
Europe
200
225
400
1150
Japan
245
465
720
810
960
1152
20 to 50 years before we will see any products and benefits
USA
270
465
697
1074
1149
1264
from nanotechnology,” she says. “Considering nanotechnology
Rest of World
110
144
293
454
644
876
started a lot farther back than most people realize, that makes
Source: Cientifica 2006 (www.cientifica.com)
2004 2005E
that the industry will be worth $1 trillion by 2015.
Region
1380
1518
“The most common miscoception is that we will have to wait
nanotechnology not new but old news.”
13
VANTAGE
Five Steps for Saving the American Auto Industry
Richard Wagoner and Bill Ford face Herculean tasks
in turning around General Motors and Ford Motor Company.
American automakers have slashed 140,000 jobs in the last five years,
with GM and Ford announcing 60,000 cuts and the closing
of 24 plants in just the last few months. But the road ahead is still
not clear. GM and Ford, because of size, complexity, and long success,
are stuck in the past and unable to see the future. The problems are
not those of technology, but of people, mindset, and culture.
High health care and pension costs aside, the primary reason the
big three are in trouble is that they don’t make cars that people want
to buy. Why? Because they are narrowly focused on making shareholder value the most important measure of success. By focusing most
on growth and profitability and maximizing stock price and dividends, they ignore other important market signals and stakeholder
interests. This generates wealth for a time, but eventually that erodes
as other competitors move in with new, more appealing products.
Great leaders and great companies forge partnerships among
all primary stakeholders — customers, employees, local communities,
as well as shareholders — to create value and adaptability over time.
Focus on customer interests creates value by anticipating shifts
in consumer tastes, as Toyota did with Prius. Focus on employees
develops the trust, commitment, and ingenuity necessary to achieve
high quality, productivity, and adaptability. Focus on the broader
interests of society creates value by enhancing the transparency and
brand value of the firm. Yet creating such shared partnerships are not
the hallmark of American automakers.
There are five steps that must be taken to transform the culture
and mindset of Detroit and build broader partnerships for the long
term. Far easier to list than implement, each requires a paradigm
shift in the industry’s thinking and a degree of leadership that
to date has not been evident.
1. Know the problem — make the case for change.
Wagoner and Ford are well aware of the depth and complexity
of the problems, including lost market share, high pension and health
care costs, lower productivity and quality, and failure to design
cars that customers want.
What they haven’t done is to understand the underlying reasons,
and to use this information to drive out complacency, denial,
and arrogance from the culture. GM and Ford must learn to gain
a deeper understanding of the current reality and challenge stakeholders with it. What are the factors that lead to waning customer
loyalty? How can they better anticipate and respond to shifting con-
Corbis
By C. Clinton Sidle
Corbis
sumer preferences? Why have they made unsustainable bargains with
commitment. That isn’t happening now except through cutbacks.
the labor unions just to maintain peace? What are the root causes for
They must not only tackle the tough issues but also create
these failures? These questions need to be asked and debated to make
hope and inspiration for the future.
a compelling case for change and instill a more adaptive mentality.
They must lead by example. They must be willing to get into the
trenches to demonstrate they understand and will never give up.
2. Gain allegiance — build the social capital for change
It’s hard to keep employees on one’s side while closing plants
They must continue to be willing to cut back executive numbers,
salaries, and benefits, as they are asking others to do. They must
and firing 10 percent of the work force. Cost cutting kills relationships
empower people to act, and not bulldoze or micromanage to the point
and communications, and supports criticism that American automak-
of undermining incentive. They must create and build on short-term
ers don’t care about their workers. Likewise, reliance on gas-guzzling
wins. Finally, they must stand up to their boards and the analysts
SUVs signals insensitivity to shifting customer tastes and the broader
and do what is in the best long-term interests of the company.
interests of society. There is no guarantee that they can regain the
Doing so delivers a message that this is not business as usual and
allegiance of workers or lost consumers.
that everyone is in this together.
Nonetheless, they must make the attempt by developing the
social capital necessary to create a shared commitment for moving
forward. Social capital is the glue that makes collective movement
5. Sustain learning — reap the lessons of experience
Finally, leaders of American automakers must develop cultures
possible. It requires the active participation of numerous stakeholder
that are able to learn and adapt to the shifting winds of change.
groups, who work together to develop and communicate shared
This has been the fatal flaw of the American auto industry. Leaders
values, purposes, and new directions. IBM, GE, and Honeywell are
must be conscious managers of the learning process by learning
well known for their large group surveys, forums, quarterly meetings,
to tap into the creative intelligence of all parties, derive lessons from
and company-wide emails. These processes create an environment
experience, and translate those lessons into action. Simple steps, like
of open dialogue and exchange of ideas. But the process must be built
using the social network to conduct after-action reviews, can promote
on a foundation of trust — something in short supply at GM and Ford.
learning and develop commitment for the future.
3. Find the answer — create the vision for change
and few do it well. Leadership
Leadership is never easy,
in times of crisis is more difficult, especially in the face of
ling idea they serve, and they develop their culture around it. Yet
embedded inertia. Wagoner and
it seems as though GM and Ford have none. They are locked into a
Ford have that facing them. If
“Detroit mentality,” where shareholder value has been the mantra and
they succeed, they will go down
bland design a refuge. Stuffing cars into dealerships and rental fleets
as great leaders — on a par with
with incentives will not sustain the company.
Alfred Sloan. The question is
If Wagoner and Ford are not the architects of the new vision,
whether they have the perspec-
then they must cultivate an environment to create and communicate
tive to do this, and whether their
it. They can do this by leveraging the social network discussed above,
boards and Wall Street will give
and using it to create, debate, educate, and inspire new directions.
them time to succeed. Person-
Such an environment allows a vision to be driven from the top
ally, I am not optimistic.
as well as emerge from the bottom.
4. Move the company — execute the vision
Dede Hatch
Restarting requires a new vision, but these companies continue
to think as they have since the 1920s. Good companies have a compel-
C. Clinton Sidle is the author of
The Leadership Wheel: Five steps for
Achieving Individual and Organizational
Greatness (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
He is director of the Roy H. Park Leadership Fellows Program at the Johnson
Graduate School of Management at
Cornell University, and a top consultant
in strategic change, teambuilding
and leadership development.
It makes no difference how well Wagoner and Ford do
in the previous steps; they must execute and move forward with
15
BOTTOM
Hedge Funds: The Cat is Out of the Bag
As the ranks of hedge-fund investors swell, some wonder if the field is getting too
crowded to generate the returns that sparked its growth.
by Susan Spielberg
H
edge funds, once viewed as alternative investment vehicles used
only by the extremely wealthy and sophisticated, have been
The “hedge” in the term “hedge fund” means that some investments are made with the purpose of offsetting potentially adverse
gaining popularity with a broader audience, as more investors become
market movements that could hurt other investments. For example,
enticed by their potentially high returns.
a hedge fund might simultaneously buy a stock — in the hope it will
But as more dollars flow in to bigger and newer funds, some say
that the unique advantages enjoyed by this now-less-exclusive set
are fading.
How the growth of hedge funds has affected the outlook for this
rise — and a put option on the same stock that would enable the fund
to sell the security at a given price, should the stock fall.
But these days, in addition to buying and selling equities, hedge
funds trade a wide range of other investment vehicles, including
sector was the subject of a January 2006 panel discussion sponsored
fixed-income securities, convertible securities, currencies, exchange-
by the Johnson School and Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. to an audience
traded futures, over-the-counter derivatives, futures contracts,
of between 150 and 200 alumni and students. “The Business of Asset
commodity options, and other non-securities investment. In addition,
Management: Is it all about Hedge Funds Now?” was the third of the
many hedge funds no longer use the hedging and arbitrage techniques
school’s “Business of…” series that brings together experts in industry
that once defined the class.
and finance to examine various business issues.
While the formation of new hedge funds has escalated over
Hedge funds are pools of capital that seek to generate high
the past few years, the returns that they generate have, on average,
returns through the use of a variety of techniques that are generally
declined, according to data presented by Sanjeev Bhojraj, associate
not available to mutual funds. Typically, they are structured as private
professor of accounting at the Johnson School and faculty director
partnerships open to only a limited number of investors.
of the Parker Center for Investment Research.
“Everybody has got very similar analytics these days and the
Bhojraj showed evidence of this decline by plotting the annual
returns generated by a sample of hedge funds between 1990 and 2004
question is whether or not it is still possible to find the needles in the
using a linear regression model, which minimized the sum of the
haystack using these analytical tools,” he stated.
“It used to be that you could run some simple models and a
squares of the distances between the line and the data points.
convertible arbitrage would pop up, something wide enough for you
“The mean return is heading toward zero,” he asserted, pointing to the angle of the line on a slide showing his analysis. “There is
to drive a truck through. Now it is just harder and harder to find those
compression in returns going on.” The average return of the funds
situations,” he explained.
However, David Breazzano, MBA ’80, co-founder of DDJ Capital
sampled, which was over 20 percent in 1990, was approximately 8
Management LLC, noted that shorting is a way to stand apart from
percent in 2004.
the crowd. “Shorting allows you to bet against others that maybe are
“But it’s not just compression in the mean,” he continued. “What’s
a little more naïve or less experienced than you — or just have a differ-
happening is that the entire distribution is shifting south.”
ing opinion,” he reflected.
While there are many funds that generate very high returns, the
Meanwhile, there are still plenty of funds producing excellent
overall decline in returns is the result of “too much money chasing the
returns, Bhojraj pointed out. Superior performance can be attributed
same strategies,” he said.
to special abilities on the part of fund managers and also can be the
Richard Marin ’75, MBA ’76, chairman and chief executive officer
result of risk-taking, he said.
of Bear Stearns Asset Management, and moderator of the panel, elabo-
Steve Semlitz ’75, MBA ’76, managing director of Hess Energy
©2006 Illustration Works
rated on that point.
Jason Koski/CU
Trading Co., compared the potential returns generated by buying and
“One in every five hedge funds could
go out of business.”—Sanjeev Bhojraj
selling stocks with those of trading in commodities, which are much
more volatile.
“The guy who trades stocks has to trade five times the leverage
to try to make the return that is going to be acceptable, whereas the
person who is trading commodities can probably trade a substantially
smaller position and get the same return,” he observed.
On the other hand, many investors seek to reduce risk by putting their money into funds of funds. Josh Weinreich, retired head of
Global Hedge Funds, Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank, pointed out that
the funds-of-funds space provided an avenue of investment for money
managers who felt “it was not prudent for ‘traditional fiduciaries’ to go
try newfangled things.” What the funds of funds did for these investors was minimize event risk, including betting on the wrong hedge
fund manager, he said.
But Bhojraj maintains that a significant portion of the returns
from funds of funds can be explained by risk levels. He said that research suggests that a relatively small percentage of funds truly have
an alpha, or measure of performance beyond what their systematic
risk would predict.
When funds produce disappointing returns, they tend to disappear, remarked Peter Wright ’75, MBA ’76, founder and general partner
of P.A.W. Partners. “When I am making [clients] money, I am their best
friend and when I am not making them money, they fire me,” he said.
Indeed, Bhojraj expects the rate of attrition for hedge funds to
accelerate from the 10 percent he estimates currently go out of business. “In the next few years the attrition rate could rise to probably 20
percent,” he stated.
“One in every five hedge funds could go out of business. So, to me,
it is a world of shakedown,” he concluded.
17
START
What makes a startup hot?
What do venture capitalists look for in assessing the viability
says Silverstein. “Whatever can be patented should be done quickly.”
of backing a new venture? Pam Silverstein, MBA ’76, president
This is a very time-consuming and expensive project for
of Virtual Recall, Inc., and a veteran of several startups,
the company in terms of attorney fees, she notes.
is a consultant who advises and mentors budding entrepreneurs
as well as established business owners. She has helped match
entrepreneurs with venture capitalists through her involvement
with several organizations in up-
• A clear road map for overcoming obstacles.
“VCs are vitally interested in the barriers to entry that current and
future competitors also will face,
and which may include legal,
state New York. Here, she identifies
financial, production, and distribu-
what venture capitalists (VCs) look
tion chain hurdles,” says Silverstein.
for in startups:
• A marketing plan backed up
• A strong, committed
by strong numbers and solid
management team.
sales strategy.
“This is as important to a startup
Venture capitalists want to know
as location is to real estate,”
about today’s and tomorrow’s target
says Silverstein. Marks of a winning
segments — whether they’re large
team include indisputable expertise,
enough, whether they’re growing
investment of team members’ own
or stagnant. The product’s marketing
money in the venture, complete
plan must be intelligent, specific,
confidence in their ability
and clearly show methods —
to succeed, and the expectation that
such as a small dedicated sales group
they will need to put in long hours
or a mass marketing campaign —
to get the business off the ground.
for achieving goals.
Of course, a record of previous
• A clear exit strategy.
Dede Hatch
successes also speaks volumes.
• A unique product or service.
“A product that solves a problem
in a new and different way is far
Pam Silverstein, MBA ’76, helps to match other
entrepreneurs with venture capitalists.
more attractive than a me-too
product,” says Silverstein. A stream of increasingly interesting and
easy-to-produce products following this first one makes a startup
that much more attractive, she adds.
• A business that presents a sustainable, competitive advantage.
A product idea that can show a distinct advantage over today’s
competitors is a clear winner. “Entrepreneurs should expect VCs
to ask why consumers would purchase this product over the
competition,” says Silverstein. “Maybe it’s better, cheaper, cuter,
more technologically advanced, easier to manufacture, or will last
forever. If the entrepreneur says there is no competition, it means
there is no market for the product — or maybe the entrepreneur
hasn’t done his or her homework very well.”
• A defensible intellectual property position.
“It’s vital to protect the product and its ongoing revenues,”
Venture capitalists want to know
how quickly they will realize a good
return on investment. “The VC wants
out within three to five years,” says
Silverstein. “The out can be an IPO,
or the company being acquired or merged. Without an exit strategy,
there is no deal. This is how the investors make their money.”
If you have all these pieces in place, you have a strong business
plan, says Silverstein. “The facts must be verifiable and the assumptions clear and cogent,” she notes. “Otherwise, there is no investment.”
Facing the challenges and driving the successes of several of her own startups
taught Pam Silverstein these essentials of being a successful entrepreneur:
getting your fears under control, having limitless energy, being willing
to do something that hasn’t been done before, and keeping your sense
of humor at all times. Her current clients include an automotive simulator
company, a “swim with the dolphins” program in Costa Rica, an Internet
advertising firm, and several biotech ventures. She lives in Ithaca and can
be reached at [email protected].
Startup Snapshots: Johnson School entrepreneurs
Adam Hocherman, MBA ’06: technology to the rescue
It’s the ultimate nightmare for a student: You forgot to reset your
founded the company in 2003, about nine months before he arrived
a-week, 8 a.m. class, so you
at the Johnson School to pursue his MBA. “In that time I wrote the
overslept and missed an impor-
patent, began to source the manufacturer, wrote the business plan and
tant exam.
acquired an SBA loan,” he says. “I didn’t have an actual product
Adam Hocherman invented
Robert Barker/CU
for sale until the Christmas following my first semester.
a dream machine to ensure
So all of the company’s revenues have come while
that students need never miss
I’ve been in school. Today the company is debt-free
a class. His Neverlate 7-day
and profitable.”
Alarm Clock has seven different
Adam Hocherman, MBA ’06
with his Neverlate Clock
Hocherman, American Innovative’s president and CEO,
alarm clock for your once-
Hocherman focused on developing the company
settings, one for each day of the
throughout business school, in lieu of a job search.
week, so it can accommodate
His strategy has paid off. “I will be going full-time
a student’s class schedule
with AI as my profession when I graduate,” he says.
or anything else that makes
Having successfully placed the Neverlate clock
a morning schedule erratic.
in retail stories, including Linens ’n Things and
The cube-shaped alarm clock
college bookstores, Hocherman is focusing his
became the impetus and the
attention on marketing his newest invention: American Innovative’s
flagship product for Hocher-
Kitchen Quad-Timer, which he describes as “a high-end, kitchen
man’s startup, American Innovative (www.americaninnovative.com).
Hocherman’s
Kitchen Quad-Timer
multi-timer that features four independent timers tied to an intuitive
display that visually associates those timers with your stove burners.”
Sean Neville, MBA ’02, and Sanjay Singhal, MBA ’92: “Cure for the Common Commute”
Sean Neville hit on the idea while sitting in traffic on Toronto’s
to drivers. Their stated goal: To offer motorists a readily available,
busiest highway. Already an audiobook fanatic, he decided to create
physical cure for the boredom and frustration they feel, day in and
a convenient and affordable way to access audiobooks, and developed
day out, during their commutes.
the idea of unlimited online audiobook rentals.
Courtesy of Simply Auidobooks
Neville launched his brain-
Sean Neville, MBA ’02,
and Sanjay Singhal, MBA ’92
Last year Neville received the Ernst & Young Emerging
Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 award for the Ontario region.
child, Simply Audiobooks
“The award is the Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year but it should
(www.simplyaudiobooks.com),
be the Emerging Entrepreneurial Team of the Year because I would
in 2003, together with Sanjay
not be here today if not for a team of hard-working and dedicated
Singhal, a fellow alumnus,
people,” said Neville upon accepting the award. “We have worked
and Steve Sorge. With Neville
together to make this small idea into a growing business and success.”
as CEO and Singhal as chairman and VP of marketing,
the company grew to become
North America’s top audio book
source, offering direct sales
and unlimited rentals online. It was the first to provide an unlimited
rental model for audio books on CD, with free direct-to-door delivery
and no due dates or late fees.
Courtesy of Simply Auidobooks
In a move that surprised and delighted many New Yorkers
on their morning commute last November, Simply Audiobooks took
its product directly to the streets as part of its Cure Your Commute
marketing campaign. At the intersection of Canal Street and Avenue
of the Americas, actors dressed in scrubs and wearing stethoscopes
“prescribed” and “dispensed” more than 1,000 samples of audiobooks
Simply Audiobooks took its promotional campaign to the streets
of New York City.
19
JOHNSON TURNS 60
S
ixty years ago, Cornell University’s School
of Business and Public Administration—the Johnson
School’s earliest incarnation—began instruction for
its first class of MBA students with the aim
of equipping them “to deal competently with the
varied situations confronting persons who must make
1868
1873
1914
Cornell’s first president,
in modern economic society.” Although the school
The cornerstone is laid for Sage
A faculty committee
Andrew Dickson White,
has undergone many changes and made great strides
Hall, which more than 100 years
recommends “a two-year
proposes the creation of
in 60 years, evidence that its focus has remained
later would house the Johnson
graduate course leading
a professorship of bookkeeping,
the same is clear from today’s restatement of that goal:
School. The women’s residence
to a Master’s degree.”
which would be part of a
to produce leaders as catalysts who create, transform
was a state-of-the-art facility
With the outbreak
“higher sort of commercial
and sustain successful organizations and have
for its time. It was lit by gas,
of World War I,
college as a Department
a real impact on the world.
heated by steam, and had baths
the initiative fades.
of the University.”
on every floor.
practical decisions and carry out programs of action
1949
1952
1954
An article in the school’s
Deane Waldo Malott,
After a nearly two-year search,
monthly newspaper,
Cornell University’s fifth
Edward T. Litchfield becomes
The Balance Sheet , calls for
president, aims to strengthen
the school’s second dean.
faculty to systematically
business instruction and
Dubbed the “airborne academic”
distribute work load
research in the school
by Time magazine, because he
to “produce more work
by installing new leadership.
flew to and from Ithaca from his
of a higher caliber and add
He assigns Paul O’Leary
farm in Pennsylvania on his
to the student’s morale.”
to the deanship of the College
private plane, the energetic
of Arts and Sciences.
Litchfield initiated the school’s
PhD and executive education
programs, and launched
Administrative Science Quarterly.
1936
1941
1945
1946
New Cornell University
On December 10, 1941,
Economist Paul O’Leary returns
School of Business and Public
President Edmund Ezra Day
the Cornell University faculty
to Cornell after wartime service,
Administration holds
promotes the formation
recommends the establishment
to assume the deanship
its first classes McGraw Hall.
of a graduate business school
of a School of Business and
of Cornell’s new business
The school’s inaugural class
offering a two-year
Public Administration.
school. He is wooed back
comprises forty men and
to Ithaca with the then-substan-
one woman. All but two are
tial salary of $9,000 a year.
veterans. Tuition: $200 annually.
professional program.
1956
1962
Charles Stewart Sheppard
William D. Carmichael arrives
The school moves into its new
Thirty-eight-year-old accoun-
becomes the third dean
from Princeton University
home, the five-story Malott Hall.
tant H. Justin Davidson becomes
of the school, ushering in
as fourth dean of the School
While largely practical in its
the school’s fifth dean and its
a quieter, less-flamboyant era
of Business and Public
design, the building boasts
first who is not an academic.
of leadership. He raises
Administration. He hires the
a faculty lounge with a stunning
Davidson comes to the school
$1.6 million for a desperately
school’s first full-time director
wood-burning fireplace.
from his partnership at the
needed new building, before
of admissions in an effort
accounting firm Touche, Ross,
resigning in 1961. The faculty
to attract the most
Bailey, & Smart’s Detroit.
approves a motion requiring
qualified students.
1964
1969
applicants for admission
to take one of two
standardized exams.
21
1974
1980
1981
1983
The school launches its
Johnson School
After a protracted search
The school’s faculty votes
first alumni magazine,
follies begin.
1984
Samuel Johnson and his family
to replace Davidson,
to end health administration
donate a $20 million endow-
Cornell Executive, renamed
Professor David A. Thomas
and public administration
ment to the school. The school
Cornell Enterprise in 1985.
becomes dean of the school.
programs, and to change the
was renamed the Samuel Curtis
He begins a strategic evaluation
name of the school to Graduate
Johnson Graduate School
of B&PA that would fundamen-
School of Management.
of Management in honor
tally change the school.
This ends decades of fragmenta-
of Johnson’s grandfather,
tion, and focuses the school
the founder of what is now
on MBA education.
SC Johnson, a family company.
1995
1997
1998
1999
The school’s first Web site goes
Former accounting professor
At the formal dedication of Sage
The Johnson School is the first
live. Its barebones content
Robert J. Swieringa returns
Hall, confetti rains down on the
top-tier business school
is largely drawn from printed
to the Johnson School as dean,
more than 950 in attendance.
to found an Office for Women
materials for prospective
from the Financial Accounting
The student-managed Cayuga
and Minorities in Business
students. The first students
Standards Board. The Parker
MBA Fund launches. The next
(now the Office of Diversity
participating in the new Twelve-
Center for Investment Research
year, the fund realizes a 47
and Inclusion). The school
Month Option MBA begin their
and the Roy H. Park Leadership
percent annualized return,
launches its Executive MBA.
studies during the summer.
Fellows program are created.
beating the S&P.
Photo credits:
Courtesy of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections,
Cornell University Library
Cornell University Photography
Benson J. Simon ’61, MBA ’62
Dede Hatch
Jon Reis
Corbis
Sources: Not Just Another School of Business Administration:
A History of Graduate Management Education at Cornell University,
by James W. Schmotter;
Cornell Enterprise, various issues.
Additional historical recollections provided by
Chief Technology Officer Kevin Baradet,
Professor Hal Bierman and Management Library
Director Don Schnedeker.
1985
1986
1989
1993
Curtis W. Tarr is named seventh
The Management Library
Computer scientist Alan G.
Cornell decides to extensively
dean of the school. With his
exchanges microfiche for
Merten becomes the eighth dean
renovate Sage Hall to accommo-
Harvard MBA, PhD in history
an optical disk information
of the Johnson School. Merten
date a modern business school.
from Stanford, and career
system. It was the first CD-ROM
presides over initial efforts to
as a high-placed Washington
system in any Cornell library.
raise money for a new building
official and senior executive
for the school.
of John Deere, he is the school’s
best-credentialed dean to date.
His deanship will focus on
building relationships with the
school’s outside constituencies.
2002
2004
2005
2006
A gift from Samuel C. Johnson
The Johnson School develops
The Boardroom Executive MBA
Installation of an encrypted
creates the SC Johnson Profes-
and publishes a five-year plan,
program begins instruction
wireless network completes
sorship in Sustainable Global
which states and supports
from its new state-of-the-art
a six-year project to provide
Enterprise. Its purpose
the school’s broad objective:
studio in the lower level
wireless Internet access
is to enhance students’
to build, earn, and sustain
of Sage Hall. The Boardroom
throughout Sage Hall.
understanding of global
a worldwide reputation as a
EMBA, created in partnership
sustainability and prepare
top-ten school of management.
with Queen’s School of Business
them to be leaders of ethical,
at Queen’s University
equitable, and economically
(Kingston, Ont.), is a geographi-
and environmentally sustain-
cally diverse, team-based
able enterprises. Stuart Hart
program in which students all
assumes the professorship.
over North America connect
with each other and with
faculty by state-of-the-art,
real-time, fully interactive
videoconferencing technology.
23
COVER
Generation
Next
Johnson School alumni put their leadership
abilities, business skills, quick wits,
and passion to work for the benefit of young
people around the country.
Sarah Visser
by Irene Kim
of life issue in New York that affects them or the people they
know — teen pregnancy, the Patriot Act, rats on the streets —
and doing a year-long research project,” says McMahon. She has
also coached them through the college search, financial aid,
application and interview process. “I love the teaching and coaching aspects of working directly with these students,” she says.
Ed Eckstein
Erin McMahon, MBA ’03, a resident principal with New Leaders
for New Schools, is training to take the helm of a new school by
shadowing Susan Elliott, the principal of New York City’s Eleanor
Roosevelt High School. She’s pictured here with the students she’s
been working with as they created their Senior Seminar Quality
of Life research projects. “They are each examining a quality
25
W
Ed Eckstein
Courtesy of Felix Rouse
Felix Rouse, MBA ’03, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark, N.J.,
with one of his favorite club members, Aje.
Erin McMahon speaks with some of her students
at Eleanor Roosevelt High School.
hen Felix Rouse, MBA ’03, first became CEO of the Boys
business and leadership skills he knew he would need. He capped
& Girls Clubs of Newark, N.J., the organization’s future
his MBA degree with a few years of corporate experience at McNeil
looked bleak: burdened with a $700,000 deficit, it faced
Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals before returning to the
massive layoffs and program cuts; the closure of one
Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark, this time as CEO.
of its three centers seemed inevitable. But in little more
Although many nonprofit leaders are dedicated, driven, and
than a year, Rouse and his management team turned the organiza-
well-meaning, too often they lack crucial business skills, says Rouse.
tion around and set it on a path of sustainable growth. The club now
“These individuals typically spend their whole lives in the nonprofit
boasts a positive bottom line, membership is on the rise, the organiza-
world, and have no experience with financials, strategic planning,
tion’s endowment is growing, and its three clubhouses have not only
and so forth,” he says. “They’re just good-hearted people who happen
remained opened but are being refurbished.
to know a lot about, say, fundraising and development.”
Because the Boys & Girls Club of Newark played a crucial role
Erin McMahon, MBA ’03, echoes Rouse’s sentiment in her assess-
in Rouse’s life (see sidebar, “A Passion for Giving Back”), he wanted
ment of leadership needs in the nation’s public schools. “Without the
to do everything in his power to ensure that the support it had given
right skills, principals cannot run schools that support all children
him would be available to every boy and girl in Newark who needed
reaching their highest potential,” says McMahon, who is preparing to
it. After finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Penn-
lead a new 6–12 public school in New York City. “For us to have really
sylvania, Rouse returned to Newark for a five-year stint as a program
great urban schools, we need really strong leaders.”
director at the Boys & Girls Clubs, and then became unit director
of the very clubhouse he’d grown up in.
During that time, Rouse saw firsthand that the organization
McMahon first recognized the need for trained leaders in public
schools when she was a grade-school teacher with Teach for America
in a low-income section of Washington, D.C., in 1996. Since then,
suffered from a lack of leadership, partly because no one stayed
she has dedicated her career to developing a stronger public school
in the CEO’s job for very long. Determined to provide that leadership
system. Now a resident principal with New Leaders for New Schools,
himself, Rouse entered the Johnson School in order to gain the solid
a national program designed to attract, prepare, and support the
next generation of urban school leaders, McMahon is training to take
the helm of a new school by shadowing Susan Elliott, the principal
“ These individuals typically spend
their whole lives in the nonprofit
world, and have no experience
with financials, strategic planning,
and so forth. ”
—Felix Rouse, MBA ’03
of New York City’s Eleanor Roosevelt High School. “New Leaders is
preparing a new brand of leaders from nontraditional backgrounds to
serve in urban schools,” she explains.
McMahon’s corporate experience as a consultant for Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young, combined with her MBA experience at the
Johnson School, equipped her with the business skills and experience crucial for success. Her in-the-trenches urban teaching experience has also been invaluable. “As in any business, you need to learn
to lead from the bottom,” says McMahon, “although my students are
really at the top.”
A passion for giving back
As a child, Felix Rouse, MBA ’03, who never knew his father and was
Rouse began providing great leadership to the club when he
taken from his mother by social workers at age two, found solace and
worked there as a staff member, more than ten years ago. That’s when
a sense of belonging at the Boys & Girls Clubs of his native Newark.
he mentored a young man by the name of Ameer Washington,
Decades later, he’s back as the club’s CEO to return the favor—and help
who lost both his parents to HIV and AIDS by the time he was 16.
kids like he once was. “A lot of urban kids don’t have anyone positive
Washington and his three siblings found strong support from the staff
of the Boys & Girls Clubs and
a single parent who’s working
especially from Rouse. “I took
hard but can’t be there enough
him under my wing because the
to provide everything their kid
same thing had been done for
needs,” says Rouse. “Organiza-
me [by Coleman],” says Rouse.
tions like ours are there to step
“I knew he didn’t have a dad in
in and fill the void.”
his life and I wanted to provide
in their lives, or maybe have
Rouse identifies with the
kids he helps. Although he was
adopted by a caring, elderly
couple after being removed
from his biological mother’s
custody, he felt a huge genera-
Felix Rouse with Queen Latifah, an active and supportive alumna
of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark. She will be the guest of honor
at the club’s annual dinner gala this year. Here, Rouse is pictured with
Queen Latifah at her movie premiere in Newark, N.J.
that male guidance for him.”
Washington was later named
Youth of Year of the Boys
& Girls Clubs in New Jersey,
and received an Oprah Winfrey
scholarship from the Boys
tion gap between himself and his parents, and turned to the
& Girls Clubs of America, with which he attended Temple University.
Boys & Girls Clubs to fill the void.
“He majored in economics. I think it was because he saw me going to
At the time, the organization was headed by Barbara Bell
business school,” chuckles Rouse. “Back in the club he used to emulate
Coleman, a woman about the age of Rouse’s biological mother,
a lot of what I did and they called him Baby Rouse, which he hated.”
who saw huge promise in the young man. She was to become his
Like Rouse, Washington imediately came back to work
lifelong mentor. “She told me how it important it was to come back
at the Boys & Girls Clubs after graduating. “He’s starting at the same
to Newark, because the city was always losing its future leaders
Club where I started,” adds Rouse. “It’s a circle, and that’s great.
to other places,” he says.
I’m particularly proud of him.”
“ For us to have really great urban
Forging partnerships
Effective leaders of any organization understand the power
schools, we need really strong
leaders. ”
of partnerships. Leaders of not-for-profit organizations that cater
to youth often rely on them to get new programs off the ground.
Both Rouse and McMahon actively pursue partnerships with
—Erin McMahon, MBA ’03
organizations that complement their goals.
McMahon’s proposed new public school will have a business
focus and offer students college credit beginning in grade nine.
She envisions students starting secondary school in the sixth grade
with the aim of attending college and graduate school. She plans
to build her school on New Leaders’ core belief that delivering highquality public education will afford every one of her students the full
range of opportunities in life. Finding an appropriate partner
organization is critical to starting up the new school, and while
McMahon has several potential partners on her radar screen,
the school’s focus makes teaming with a business school a natural fit.
Rouse spends considerable time exploring potential partnerships
with organizations that can provide complementary capabilities
Felix Rouse accompanied teen members of the Boys & Girls Clubs
of Newark on a trip to a children’s hospital in Brooklyn that cared
for children born with HIV/AIDS. “I often took our teens to community service activities, and this was one of the most meaningful,” he said.
27
Generation Next
Joe Bridy, MBA ’04, a portfolio manager at Hamlin Capital LLC,
with the delegation of Johnson School students and alumni who
accompanied him on a trip to Berea College in Kentucky to offer
students career assistance and interview training.
to the Boys & Girls Clubs, such as mentoring giant Big Brothers
From left: Fox Holt, MBA ’07, Bianca Medrano, MBA ’06, Bridy,
Elizabeth Kraft, MBA ’07, Christian Rhodes, MBA ’04, and Hatel Patel,
MBA ’06. Dean Robert J. Swieringa, not pictured, also accompanied
the delegation.
Because he sees himself as a young undergrad in Berea’s students,
Big Sisters. “Instead of creating a mentoring program of our own, why
Bridy, a portfolio manager of a high-yield bond fund at Hamlin
not just partner with Big Brothers Big Sisters?” asks Rouse. “They like
Capital LLC in New York City, has made it his mission to inform
it because they have access to our kids, thousands of kids they can
Bereans of the spectrum of business opportunities available to them,
match with mentors, and we offer the kids a safe place where the
and help broaden their horizons. “Having grown up in the southern
mentors and mentees can meet.”
part of the anthracite coal region, I didn’t know what was out there
— I thought you were a doctor or a teacher, or else worked in a the coal
Shedding light on career opportunities
In a similar vein, Joe Bridy, MBA ’04, has made it his mission
mines,” he says. Furthermore, Bridy was inspired by his grandfather,
a self-educated man who pushed young people to expand their
to help students from Appalachia who have exceptional potential but
opportunities through education. “Because of my relationship with
limited means. Each year, Bridy leads a delegation of Johnson School
my grandfather, Berea’s mission of providing top-tier educational
alumni and MBA students to Berea College (in Berea, Ky.), to offer its
opportunities to people regardless of financial position is very
undergraduate students career assistance and interview training.
important to me, and promoting meritocracy is something that I am
Berea is a unique institution: it is run on a meritocracy-based
system, and each student receives a full-tuition scholarship in
very passionate about,” he says.
As a second-year student at the Johnson School, Bridy
exchange for service labor to the campus and community. Berea’s
conceived of the career-services mission as a way not only to help
students, explains Bridy, are “incredibly bright but come from
Berea students, but also to share the Johnson School network and
financially challenged areas, and lack some of the breeding and con-
match employers with outstanding candidates from Berea for
tacts of students at elite Eastern schools.” While Bridy never attended
internships and full-time employment. He recruited several of his
Berea College himself, he grew up in the economically challenged coal
classmates, and together they reviewed resumes of interested Berea
regions of northeastern Pennsylvania and is sympathetic to the plight
students, then headed to Kentucky to deliver presentations on their
faced by many Berea College students.
areas of specialization, offer counseling on resume writing and interviewing skills, and conduct mock interviews.
Bridy’s Berea trip has become an annual event for Johnson School
“ Promoting meritocracy
is something that I am very
passionate about. ”
—Joe Bridy, MBA ’04
students and alumni, including a few recruiters. In fact, several of the
Johnson School students who originally made the trek as a favor to
Bridy became alumni who realized the Bereans’ potential as employees (among them Andrew Martin and Christian Rhodes, both MBA
’04). In February of this year, the delegation also included the Johnson
School’s own Dean Robert J. Swieringa.
Sharing skills means gaining experience
On the other side of the country, Eric Sass and Andy Blanco, both
Program at the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce.
MBA ’05, are helping to turn around the struggling nonprofit Center
“One of the reasons I chose CLLL was because I knew there would
for Lifelong Learners (CLLL), which provides homework assistance,
be opportunities to really impact an organization that was providing
basic computer classes, SAT preparation, and English-language help
an important service to the people in its community,” he says.
to children and their families in Los Angeles. Sass is a consultant for
Capgemini, Blanco manages a technology-implementation project
Sean Perry/Berea College
CLLL through the Riordan Volunteer Leadership Development
Sass, who provides consultingservices to CLLL, says his main
goal is helping the organization to increase revenues from donors.
“I’m helping them find ways to measure their success, set new goals,
“ I realize how good I had it—
a stable home, a good school,
and parents that made sure I did
my homework. I want other kids
to have the same. ”
—Eric Sass, MBA ’05
develop project plans,” he says. His larger goal is to set up a pro-bono
program at Capgemini for colleagues interested in helping local
nonprofits. The CLLL, Sass adds, will serve as the test case
to launch the program.
About 40 percent of the families in the area the CLLL serves
have incomes below the poverty line, Sass adds. “Some of them live
eight to ten people in an apartment, and the kids have nowhere quiet
to study,” he says. In addition to providing study space and classes
for the children, the CLLL also assists parents with their English,
enabling them to help with homework. “When I was a kid and needed
help with my homework, I’d turn to my parents, but most of these
at Raytheon, and both volunteer their time and skills at CLLL.
kids’ parents don’t have good English language skills, and many
In exchange, they get firsthand experience in grappling with and
of them haven’t graduated high school,” notes Sass.
working to resolve the kinds of challenges nonprofits face.
Blanco, who serves on CLLL’sboard, was looking for opportunities to become a nonprofit board member when he learned about
“Young people are the future,”Sass continues. “I realize how good
I had it — a stable home, a good school, and parents that made sure
I did my homework. I want other kids to have the same.”
Park Fellows: Sparking community spirit, funding financial independence
Using their leadership and business skills to benefit the community comes second nature to alumni of the Roy H. Park Leadership
Fellowship Program. The actions of Park Fellows Eric Sass, MBA ’05,
report that they volunteer time or money to alumni or other community service.*
In addition to fostering a strong commitment to community
Andy Blanco, MBA ’05, and Erin McMahon, MBA ’03 confirm that the
service, the Park program frees its participants from the financial
program is succeeding in its goal of instilling graduates with an en-
constraints of tuition costs. And that financial support can make or
during commitment to community service, philanthropy, and socially
break administrators and teachers in the public-school system. “If
responsible business.
I’d had loans to pay back I wouldn’t be able to survive on the salary
Case in point: Sass comments that his work with the Center for
— we’re not paid for the work we do,” says McMahon. “The Park pro-
Lifelong Learners was sparked by his Park service project, in which
gram helped me say, ‘I am a unique leader.’ It helped me develop my
he and classmate Matt Cohen brought ten underprivileged New York
own style.”
City high schoolers to Cornell for several days to experience college
McMahon adds that her new school, as she envisions it, will
life, learn about the business world, and work on leadership and
emulate the Johnson School. “I’ll have 600 kids — the same size stu-
team skills.
dent body — and we’re trying to create a powerful small school with
“The Park program pushed you to give back in ways that use
the attributes of a large high school, such as electives and bells and
your strengths, and in my case to assist in the nonprofit world without
whistles. We’ll create an environment where we work hard, play hard,
having to go in full-time,” says Sass. Blanco feels the same kind of
and support each other.”
commitment. “The program’s emphasis on continued service in the
*The Roy H. Park Leadership Fellowship Program Alumni Survey Results,
a report by Marcia James Sawyer, PhD ’99 (CALS), June 2004.
community after graduation really compelled me to look for opportunities to contribute outside of my workplace,” says Blanco. Sass
and Blanco are representative of the 75 percent of Park graduates who
29
FEATURE
THE COLOR
OF MONEY
MARKETERS GRAPPLE WITH
CHALLENGES OF REACHING
DIVERSE AUDIENCES
T he Superbowl may be worth watching —
By Sharon Tregaskis
or not — but who can forget the
commercial highlights? Every year,
national brands spend millions in airtime
and creative fees to enhance brand
recognition, reposition themselves
in the market, and launch new products
during the big game. This year, Toyota
took a gamble, launching its 2007
Camry hybrid in a 30-second bilingual
spot during the first half. Developed by
Conill, Toyota’s Hispanic ad agency,
the commercial features a Hispanic
father driving a tree-lined highway and
explaining the basics of hybrid technology — switching between electric
and gas — to his son. “Like you,
with English and Spanish,” observes the
precocious tot from the backseat.
31
The Color of Money
B
B
y 2009, Hispanics will account for one in six people living
in the U.S. and 9 percent of American purchasing power.
By 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau projects that the
a market segment that consistently favors the brand, and progressive,
American minority population will have reached 33 percent,
eco-conscious car buyers of all ethnicities; in subsequent months,
and by 2050, that number will climb to 47 percent. Last year,
the ad played on English and Spanish television stations. Burrell
African-American, Asian-American, Native American, Hispanic
Communications and InterTrend Communications — boutique adver-
and multiracial consumers spent a combined $2 trillion — 22 percent
tisers targeting black and Asian-American buyers respectively —
of the country’s purchasing power — with projections suggesting that
plan additional commercials scheduled to launch later in the year.
the rate of increase in their spending is growing far faster than that
“Just going on mainstream media with a Spanish-language ad is
of Caucasian shoppers. As the purchasing power of non-Caucasians
meaningful to Hispanics,” says associate professor of marketing Doug
grows, sellers face mounting pressure to appeal to a growing array
Stayman. “The very same ad on Spanish-language TV and English-
of backgrounds. Marketers dedicated about $5 billion to the cause
language TV has a different impact. It really stands out if it’s on more
in 2004, and, in the first half of 2005, such national concerns
mainstream media, as opposed to targeted media — it’s a more
as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and the U.S. government spent
prominent role, less narrow. Psychological studies show that people
as much on Hispanic TV between January and July as they had
respond to those ads differently.”
during the entire preceding year. “Demographics are and have been
During the 2005 NBA playoffs, Chrysler ran Dodge Charger
changing in this country,” says career pitchman DeVerges Jones,
commercials featuring a black businessman. Kraft teaches Asian-
MBA ’74, whose credits include brand management stints for Pepsi,
Americans how to prepare popular Western-style fare using their
Burger King, AT&T, and Mars, Inc. “Marketers are adjusting their
products. Publix Supermarkets has created a store format — Publix
communications and marketing efforts to address this
Sabor (“flavor” in Spanish) — to appeal specifically to Hispanics
burgeoning growth.”
in Florida. Even jewelers have recognized the changing market,
The Toyota spot — part of the multiethnic “Moving Forward”
extending their advertising to smaller, ethnically-oriented media,
campaign — was the Japanese automaker’s first bilingual, bicultural
offering products in line with local tastes, and hiring more bilingual
effort in mainstream media. It’s expected to appeal both to Hispanics,
staff. “When you demonstrate that you understand an ethnic
consumer group’s culture,” says Jones, “that makes them appreciate
Percent Distribution of U.S. Population by Race
your product, service, or network.”
As every minority group increases its share
of the future U.S. population, the race and
ethnic distribution will become even more
diversified through the 21st century.
Marketing Mishaps
Sadly, advertising also offers a wealth of examples confirming
Total Population:
263 million
Total Population:
394 million
1
4
9
13
74
1
9
15
22
53
Percent of
Population
Percent of
Population
what many minorities have long suspected — a lot of the white folks
in marketing just don’t get it. Remember the Ford Nova, a “no go”
in Spanish? A candy manufacturer ran into similar trouble with ads
for their “little box” of chocolates — perfectly effective in MexicanAmerican communities, but Spanish-speaking groups from other regions knew the product name as a slang reference to the female sexual
anatomy, and sales foundered. In 2004, Victoria’s Secret enraged
Vietnamese-Americans with a misguided attempt to cash in on Asian
spending by including the Buddha’s image on bikini tops. “It’s important for marketers to understand subgroups within larger markets
— an ad created for a Mexican-American market in Texas can’t always
just be transferred to Cuban-Americans in Miami,” says Stayman,
noting the diversity of culture within larger ethnic subgroups.
“They use the language differently, have a different culture and
Native American
Hispanic White
Asian
Black
Non-Hispanic White
(Non-Minority)
Source: Dynamic Diversity: Projected Changes in U.S. Race and Ethnic Composition 1995 to 2050, a 1999 report commissioned from
the Census Bureau by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
www.mbda.gov/documents/dynamicdiversity_projectedchanges.pdf
different ways of thinking about things. Minorities are not
homogeneous groups.”
Even when misguided efforts don’t erode market share or cost
millions in scrapped promotional materials and products, marketers
should be clear on how nuances will register with consumers,
says Jones, now interim chief marketing officer for Muse
— De Verges Jones, MBA ’74,
Muse Communications
Growing Proportion of Minorities
Courtesy of De Verges Jones
“Understand all of your
consumer constituencies
and know their hot
buttons.”
In 1995, 24 states had minority populations
of less than 15 percent. By 2025, only 11 states
will have minority populations of less than
15 percent, and most of those states will
be in the Northeast and Midwest.
Source: Dynamic Diversity: Projected Changes in U.S. Race and Ethnic Composition 1995
to 2050, a 1999 report commissioned from the Census Bureau by the
U.S. Commerce Department’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
www.mbda.gov/documents/dynamicdiversity_projectedchanges.pdf
Percentage of
State Population
Less than 15.0
15.0 to 24.9
25.0 to 49.9
50.0+
Communications, a multiethnic, multimedia ad agency in Los Angeles
1995
and New York. In the 1980s, as a senior marketing manager with Pepsi,
Jones reviewed a campaign featuring an African-American marching
band. When brand managers screened the commercial,
not everyone got the same message. “White managers gravitated
to that as embracing a cultural dynamic — the affinity of AfricanAmericans for dance and rhythm,” says Jones. “I told them that,
in the South particularly, marching bands are revered and people
fight to join them because it’s a demonstration of excellence —
professional coordination of excellence between sound, movement.
It’s more about achievement; the dance is secondary. What’s being
demonstrated is culturally relevant, but the takeaway part of this
2025
consumer segment is not about rhythm and dance.”
In many ways, says Jones, reaching out to niche American
markets resembles the challenges business has long recognized
in international commerce. “In a foreign culture — bringing Pepsi,
Coke, or Playtex into a new marketplace,” he says, “you have to understand the dynamics of the culture so you communicate in a relevant
manner and don’t offend them.” That means, whether they’re talking
to audiences in the United States or around the globe, advertisers need
a healthy dose of imagination and empathy. “If you’re a good marketer,
you should understand all of your consumer constituencies and know
their hot buttons regardless of your background,” says Jones,
pointing to his own success as a black man marketing double-process
because it’s a relevant variable,” says Stayman, who points out that
blonding to white women in the late 1970s. For larger agencies lacking
while people of all cultures buy certain products, flavor, color, or scent
expertise in certain cultural segments, collaboration with such niche
preferences vary by cultural background and the methods market-
advertising companies as Muse, Burrell, InterTrend, and Conill can
ers use to appeal to groups or highlight product features might differ
provide crucial insights — as can thorough market research.
within culturally distinct segments.
“Many marketers and companies believe they know it all,
Yet as demographic trends continue, marketers will have to move
thinking they totally understand consumer wants and needs,”
beyond effective niche marketing to offer truly multicultural market-
says Jones. “They forego spending $50–100,000 on basic research such
ing — appealing simultaneously to people of multiple backgrounds.
as attitude and usage studies, but spend tens of millions on advertis-
Already, Texas, Hawaii, New Mexico, California, and the District of
ing and media effort — without knowing if they are communicating
Columbia boast majority minority cultures. “Pockets of the country
the ‘right’ message in the ‘right’ manner.”
are driven more by a multicultural dynamic,” says Jones, pointing
to such efforts as the United Colors of Benetton campaign featuring
Into the Niche — and Beyond
In recent decades, the growth of dedicated media vehicles has
allowed marketers to distribute culturally tailored ads to narrow
audiences — reaching out to black, affluent women of a certain age
clasped hands of contrasting skin tones. “That’s the new, emerging
general audience, which is very diverse — from a multicultural, gender, and sexual orientation standpoint.”
To learn more about how racially or culturally targeted adver-
through Ebony, Hispanic Chicago families through the newspaper Hoy,
tising in mainstream media is perceived, Stayman went to Texas,
or Chinese-Americans listening to Cantonese-language broadcasts
where he surveyed Hispanic and Anglo shoppers in San Antonio, a
on San Francisco’s KVTO radio. “Culture is being used more and more
predominantly Hispanic city, and Austin, which has a Caucasian
33
The Color of Money
targets black women with Caress promotions in Essence magazine and
crafts tailored appeals to women over forty for its Ponds products.
“We recognize it’s important to develop and direct specific communi-
“Minorities are not
homogeneous groups.”
cations at particular markets,” says McWeeney. “It goes beyond placing
a national ad everywhere, hoping to get everybody, even if you
think your ad is great.”
— Professor Doug Stayman
majority. “What’s interesting is when you start seeing mainstream
media being viewed by a multicultural audience,” says Stayman. “It’s
not merely ‘Should I use the same ad when I’m targeting AfricanAmericans in Ebony and whites in Catholic Weekly? What happens
when you have a Hispanic ad on mainstream TV and Anglos see it?
And vice versa?”
Stayman’s study revealed that minority Anglos in San Antonio
and minority Hispanics in Austin responded more negatively
to advertising targeted at the majority group in their city than did
majority consumers exposed to materials targeted at the minority
group. “You have many aspects of yourself,” he says. “So the ones that
will tend to drive your response to an advertisement or marketing are
the ones that are more salient in any given context.” His findings,
says Stayman, suggest that advertisers need to think beyond their
target audience. “As we become a multicultural society, the balance
of the targeted and not-targeted group changes,” he says. “You have
to balance the benefit of targeting that minority group with the
potential loss of effectiveness with the majority group.”
ment and professor of marketing. “There is no necessity, per
se, for multicultural marketing,”
says Rao, who teaches marketing and quantitative methods.
“The general philosophy is that
you identify a target market, using various criteria — it could be
one target market with several
Professor Vithala Rao
segments — and then you design strategies
to appeal to them appropriately. If the company wants to dominate
a particular segment or sub segment, defined on the basis of race,
then they have to design a strategy to deal with that race or subgroup
of people, defined in terms of economics, demographics,
lifestyle, and so on.”
Meanwhile, many advertisers fail to fully consider whether
cultural specificity even has any bearing in managing a particular
brand, notes Stayman. “I think a lot of marketers spend too little time
thinking about what criteria they should use to segment, as opposed
to what target they should go after given the criteria they’ve used,”
Getting it Right
In its “Dove Campaign for Real Beauty,” Unilever included
models of every race and body shape to highlight a theme common
to women of all backgrounds: beauty is more than skin deep.
“The campaign is about going
beyond stereotypes — to all skin
tones, ages, body types,” says
Unilever customer marketing
Jason Koski/CU
manager Megan McWeeney,
Megan McWeeney, MBA ’02,
Unilever
W. Malott professor of manage-
Dede Hatch
Dede Hatch
Such efforts highlight the first principle of marketing,
according to Vithala Rao, Deane
he says. “It’s very important to think about — not just how finely
am I breaking up the market, but what criteria do we use? Do we use
culture, gender, age, lifestyle?” Imagine a Ford F-150, the professor
suggests. Perhaps both Anglo and Hispanic men of a certain age could
be enticed to purchase the truck without a culturally specific appeal.
“Maybe you should segment on age,” he says. “Twenty-five-year-old
Hispanic guys might like pickup trucks for the same reason twentyfive-year-old Anglo guys like them. So the relevant thing might
MBA ’02. “We wanted to debunk
U.S. Buying Power Statistics by Race
stereotypes. For this campaign,
.
we showcased women with
scars, freckles, tattoos.”
In addition to billboards
in major metropolitan markets,
broad print advertising, and its emotive Superbowl spot for the Dove
Self-Esteem Fund, Unilever has also targeted unacculturated Hispanics with Spanish-language ads on Univision. Meanwhile, Unilever
Buying Power(billions of dollars)
1990
2000
2005
2010
Total
4,270.5
7,187.6
9,100.8
11,847.0
White
3,816.2
6,231.2
7,811.9
10,063.9
Black
318.1
590.2
760.7
1,023.4
Hispanic
211.9
489.5
735.6
1,086.5
19.7
39.1
51.1
69.2
116.5
268.8
396.5
578.8
NA
58.3
80.6
111.7
Native American
Asian
Multiracial
Source: “The Multicultural Economy 2005: America’s minority buying power,” Selig Center for Economic Growth,
Terry College of Business, The University of Georgia, May 2005
Tips of the Trade
It’s all well and good to know that communication differs depending on your audience, and even to aim for effective multicultural communication, but how do you actually accomplish it? Our experts offered a few tips for workplace success.
award is good, but the way it’s done may not be comfortable
• Listen. If PepsiCo vice president for global diversity and inclusion
to some depending on their cultural background.”
Amy George, MBA ’84, could offer one piece of advice, it would
be this: listen. “To be culturally sensitive, you need to become
• Focus on behavior, not attitudes. “You’re not going to have years upon
a student of cultures,” says George. “Be a good listener — don’t assume
that the way youview the world is the way everyone else
years of messaging you heard as a child, a young adult, a young
views the world.”
person in the business world that will be erased because of a few
sessions on diversity in the workplace later in life,” says George,
“but you can help people see things from different angles.”
• Beware what you don’t say: “Ninety percent of all communication
is nonverbal,” says Angela Noble-Grange, MBA ’94, who teaches oral
What’s most important is helping people understand
communication and management writing at the Johnson School.
how to be more inclusive or understanding. Over time,
“We each form a first impression, even before the other person opens
that may translate into attitude change.
their mouth. Some of it has to do with the way we look — the color
• Work with colleagues who aren’t like you. “Effective corporations have
of our skin, how we dress, what our hair looks like. All of this
is going on so quickly and often you don’t even know what’s going
very savvy financial, accounting, sales, operational, and marketing
on in the other person’s head — it’s nonverbal.”
people,” says marketing consultant DeVerges Jones, MBA ’74.
“That eclectic dynamic is far more effective than one dominated
by sales people. The same is true of other kinds of diversity.
• Consider your impact. “Most people react from their perspective
and don’t often think about other perspectives,” says George,
There’s a direct relationship between diversity and productivity,
“so they are fairly mindless in the way that they respond.”
and if you have a diverse constituency, that eclectic nature should
Case in point: At a corporate awards ceremony, some honorees
make you more effective in the workforce because you’re blending.”
may come from a culture in which individualism is valued,
• Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. “We all know the golden rule:
making the opportunity to stand alone and accept an award
a great honor. But for a person whose culture values collective
do unto others as you’d have them do unto you,” says George.
efforts and teamwork, that same experience could be highly
“I encourage people to practice the platinum rule: Do unto others
embarrassing. Says George: “The intent of those giving out the
as they would like done unto them.”
be that for men of a certain age with a certain self-concept —
no matter what their cultural background — the same kind
“We’re a company
for consumers,
and they come in all
sizes and shapes.”
of advertising, the same product benefits and features might appeal.”
At PepsiCo, multicultural marketing is a natural extension
of a strategic and overarching commitment to corporate diversity.
“The biggest message we want to convey is that we’re a company
for consumers, and that they come in all sizes and shapes,” says vice
Courtesy of Amy George
A Twenty-First Century Vision
— Amy George, MBA ’84, PepsiCo
president for global diversity and inclusion Amy George, MBA ’84.
against you by African-American employees,” she says, “that’s not
“If you broaden your appeal, you’re reaching the broadest type
going to be lost on consumers.”
of consumer for your company.” And having a diverse workforce,
As American demographicscontinue changing in response
she believes, makes reaching that goal easier. In 2005, the com-
to shifting immigration patterns, birth rates, and even aging and
pany launched Doritos Guacamole, Lay’s Chile Limon, and Wasabi
relocation within the country, the marketplace will be forced
Funyuns, all with input from a combination of internal employee
to evolve, too — and that means acknowledging and responding to the
networks and ethnic advisory boards. Furthermore, says George,
role of race and culture in shaping consumer attitudes and behavior
the fact of a diverse workforce itself can enhance brand prestige.
with sophistication and nuance. “Understand your customer inti-
“If you’re trying to court African-Americans in the marketplace and
mately,” urges Jones. “Multicultural marketing is marketing to a new
you have a multi-million-dollar internal class-action lawsuit filed
general audience. Without this knowledge, it is virtually impossible
to be effective in marketing.”
35
FEATURE
BIG BUCKS
AND BOARDROOMS
Ground-breaking research by Johnson School finance
Professor Yaniv Grinstein shows that executive compensation
saw unprecedented growth in the last decade,
cutting a bigger slice of the pie out of companies’ bottom lines.
By Shannon Dortch
examined could
surprised smile on his face, when his research
be explained
on the growth of executive pay first was report-
by variables such
ed by the New York Times in 2004. Since then,
as corporate perfor-
Grinstein’s paper “The Growth of Executive Pay”
mance, increase
has been cited in dozens of articles and columns in top publications,
in corporate size,
including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Economist ,
or changes in the mix
Washington Post , and Newsweek .
of firms in the market.
Grinstein, assistant professor of finance at the Johnson School
They accomplished
since 2000, says he never expected his work to generate so much
this by statistically
publicity. “It’s encouraging to get a lot of attention,” he says. “I find that
controlling for firm
I’m able to make a change, or at least to raise an important topic.”
size, performance,
The hot topic: the dollar amount CEOs and other top executives
receive in compensation, and how those dollars relate to and affect
and industry mix.
Even when con-
Dave Cutler c/o theispot.com
Y
aniv Grinstein sat in his office with a happy,
corporate earnings. Grinstein and his coauthor, Lucian Bebchuk
trolling for firm size and performance, CEO compensation increased
of Harvard Law School, found that from 1999 to 2003, the five top
96 percent between 1993 and 2003, and compensation levels for top-five
executives at the 1,500 largest publicly traded U.S. firms cumulatively
executives increased 76 percent. The conclusion: compensation levels
received $122 billion in salary, bonus, and stock compensation. From
far outstripped increases that could be attributed to changes
1993 to 1997, the cumulative total was $68 billion. That represents
in firm size, performance, and industry. “In fact, variation in size,
a 44 percent increase between the two time periods measured.
performance, and industry mix across the years explains only
“Most previous research hasn’t looked at the economic significance
of the amounts paid,” Grinstein says. “It was basically assumed that supply
10 percent of the growth in compensation,” Grinstein adds.
Grinstein teaches the Johnson School’s Corporate Governance
and demand forces in the market determine the level of compensation,
finance elective. He recalls that in 2000, when he first came to the
and so there was not much importance in looking into these figures.
school, students were not clear about why the class is important.
“Our research basically highlights the fact that the last decade
“But the following year, [with the collapse of Enron, it became clear that
has witnessed unprecedented growth in the size of executive
corporate governance should be an important part of MBA education,”
compensation, and that executive compensation has become
Grinstein says. “I really enjoy teaching the course. The students are out-
economically meaningful,” Grinstein continues. “It also raises the
standing, and class discussions often stimulate research ideas for me.”
question of whether market forces are the only driver of executive
Perhaps the real eye-popper in this research is the way
compensation, or whether there is a fundamental problem in the way
compensation increases play out in corporate values. Grinstein and
executive compensation contracts are determined.”
Bebchuk’s study, which compared pre-tax compensation to post-tax
The next step for the researchers was to determine the extent to
which the increase in executive compensation over the years
corporate earnings, showed that compensation for companies’ top
five executives amounted to 9.8 percent of aggregate earnings for the
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rising from 5 percent during
the period 1993 to 1995.
“The measure itself is not
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in the number — it’s in the change
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that happened from 1993
to today,” Grinstein says.
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“There is a constant increase from
Kevin Stearns/CU
using the three-year average. The relativity is the
main point.”
The researchers
Professor Yaniv Grinstein
offer several explana-
tions for the increases in executive compensation. Each answer has
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5 percent to 10 percent
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some merit, but no one alone fully explains the staggering increases,
Grinstein says. Demand and supply could explain some of the change.
Executives’ jobs might be tougher, so that boards must pay them more.
There might also be a greater risk to executives of losing their jobs.
Another explanation may be a lack of arm’s-length bargaining
between boards of directors and executives. The board of directors,
as the shareholders’ representative, should bargain for the least
expensive compensation package. In reality, CEOs exert considerable influence and power over many boards, both in controlling their
agenda and in bringing directors onto boards. It is likely that directors
chosen by a CEO will find it difficult to drive a hard bargain when
compensation is negotiated.
After the corporate scandals of 2002, most stock exchanges
required changes in the way directors are elected, with CEOs having
less say in nomination decisions. The new rules also stipulate that only
independent board members — that is, those not nominated by the CEO
— can be involved in compensation decisions. Such changes are expected
to decrease the bargaining power of CEOs and reduce compensation.
Another regulatory shove in that direction may be on the way
for many corporations. In January 2006, the Securities and Exchange
Commission voted unanimously to require companies to disclose
total yearly compensation for their five top executives. Under the new
rules, designed to make compensation more transparent, companies
would furnish the true cost of executive pay packages to the corporate
bottom line, and do so in plain language.
“I hope that these new regulations will force compensation
committees and boards to work harder
at designing compensation packages,”
Grinstein says.
��
One intriguing possibility, though not included in Grinstein’s
research, is that of indexing executives’ stock options to a benchmark,
such as the S&P 500. The option price would be tied to increases and
decreases in the benchmark, thus preventing executives from cashing
in on broad market trends unrelated to their company’s performance.
Yet implementing indexed options is far from simple, Grinstein
says. Unlike the “plain-vanilla” options now so popular with boards
and executives, using indexed options requires greater knowledge
and sophistication among boards’ compensation committees.
In the meantime, Grinstein and his collaborators are bearing
down on their next two compensation-related research projects.
The first, another collaboration with Harvard’s Bebchuk, explores the
relationship of firm expansion to CEO pay. The second looks at the
correlation between executives’ wealth (as opposed to compensation
alone) and corporate performance.
And who can say when the next “hot” idea in executive
compensation research will emerge? Grinstein will be teaching his
Corporate Governance class in Sage Hall, and listening to his students.
To download the paper, “The Growth of Executive Pay,”
by Lucian Bebchuk and Yaniv Grinstein, visit the Social
Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection,
at http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract_id=648682. To learn more
about Professor Yaniv Grinstein and his research, see his
profile and curriculum vitae on the Johnson School’s Web site,
at www.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/profiles/Grinstein/.
“ The last decade has witnessed unprecedented
growth in the size of executive compensation.”
— Professor Yaniv Grinstein
37
FEATURE
GONE GLOBAL
EMBA students learn firsthand how
to do business in another country
By Merrill Douglas
Each October, second-year students from the John- a b o u t t h e
culture and
son School’s Executive MBA program fan out around the business
really a world
market. And
conditions
the
world
in
search
of
wisdom.
Enrolled
in
the
Global
a ny s t u d e n t
that
reworking in that
l
a
t
e
to
the
Business Projects course, they head to Australia and
market really has
chosen product.
China, Brazil, the Philippines, Iceland, and points Angela Horne,
to be sensitive to the
international, global
associate director of
in between with a common goal: to learn,
i mpl ic at ion s of wh at
the Johnson School’s
through practical experience, how
t hey ’re doi ng ,” s ays R ick
Management Li brary, conOliver, chief executive officer
sults with each team, helping
to thrive in the global
of Nashville-based American Learnmembers figure out how best to use
marketplace.
ing Solutions, who teaches Global Business
library databases, the Web, print publica“The U. S .
m a rket
is
Projects as a visiting professor at the Johnson School.
tions, personal interviews, and other resources to
Students in the course form groups and begin to identify
gather information they need. “It’s not just about the tools; it’s about the
potential projects in the spring, have their projects approved in July,
strategy,” she says. With her guidance, team members gain the ability to
and then, in August, start meeting periodically during EMBA week-
efficiently identify and evaluate information sources.
ends in Palisades, N.Y. Each group chooses a specific product or
Team members also identify and contact people they want to
service and explores what it would take to introduce it successfully
meet when they visit their country during the EMBA program’s week-
into a foreign market. Ideally, each group focuses on taking a U.S.
long October break. On their return, they write and present a report — a
product or service overseas, or from one non-U.S. market to another,
marketing plan, feasibility study, or other document that lays out what
but Oliver allows exceptions when a proposal to bring an overseas
they have learned. The report — not an academic paper, but one with
product or service to the United States looks especially compelling.
genuine “street value,” according to Oliver — ends with recommenda-
There are a few basic rules: The team can’t pick an industry in
tions for extending the business into the foreign market.
which any of its members works, and it can’t pick a country
In the past two years, projects have focused
that any of its members knows well. “The key thing is
on a remarkable variety of business challenges, involv-
that we’re forcing students out of their comfort
ing both for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises.
zone, which is basically the U.S. marketplace,”
In every case, team members clearly achieved
Oliver says. Studying an unfamiliar business
Oliver’s main goals for the course: working suc-
area helps students understand how to “quickly
cessfully outside their comfort zones; learning
come to grips with what is the structure, what is
to do business in a foreign country; stretching
themselves beyond accustomed ways of thinking;
Ri
ck
Ol
ive
r
the dynamic, what are the trends in an industry,
Each group spends the first weeks of the course
researching its selected industry and country to learn
s
y
so that they’re better able to react to it,” he explains.
c
oto
Ph
r
ou
Visiting Professor Rick Oliver
te
and prevailing under tough conditions. A sampling
of their projects is described here.
ICELAND:
The Hydrogen Society
GOAL: To explore possible ways to turn Icelandic New Energy
Ltd. into a profit-making venture.
STRATEGY: The team researched hydrogen power initiatives
worldwide and met with officials of INE and others working
to create a “Hydrogen Society” in Iceland.
overseas and, if demand exists, eventually license
its intellectual property.
Members of the Cornell Hydro Group (CHG), Peter Fitzgerald,
Icelandinc New Energy
RESULT: The team advised INE to provide consulting services
Commuters who ride hydrogen buses in Reykjavik, Iceland,
get a surprisingly pleasant, smooth, low noise, and clean ride
on their way to work
Justin Popp, and Peter Reif, all EMBA ’05, encountered some culture
clash when they arrived in Iceland to study hydrogen energy.
The team came to explore how Icelandic New Energy Ltd. (INE),
a public-private partnership formed to make Iceland the first society
powered entirely by hydrogen fuel, could use its expertise to turn
a profit. But, they learned, making money wasn’t INE’s aim.
The Icelandic culture is “efficient and minimalist. They’re not
a consumer society,” says Reif, an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton
in McLean, Va., who was a commander in the U.S. Navy while enrolled
at the Johnson School. Living in small, modest homes and driving small
cars, Icelanders enjoy a high standard of living, but “conspicuous consumption is not on their menu.” They are “very concerned about
Taking direction from its primary sponsor, the government
of Iceland, INE has made its guiding question not how to build
a business, but how to use hydrogen power to cut pollution and maintain the good life without relying on nonrenewable energy sources.
Iceland leads the world in hydrogen technology because
it abounds in hydropower and geothermal energy. It uses these
sources to run plants that extract hydrogen from water without
burning fossil fuels. INE has introduced a fleet of buses powered
by hydrogen fuel cells in Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik, and it soon plans
to add hydrogen-powered passenger cars and fishing boats.
CHG’s report outlined
Courtesy of Peter Reif
polluting the earth. They’re very good stewards of their country.”
Peter Reif, EMBA ’05, noted that Icelanders are “very good stewards
of their country.” Here, Reif is standing near a geothermal power plant
at Iceland’s Blue Lagoon.
its intellectual property overseas.
CHG members were forced to draw on inner resources to rise
to a difficult occasion. Besides learning about hydrogen technology
and gaining “a real respect for the
Icelandic people,” Reif says
With no connections in the industry or he learned how to organize
its enterprise into a moneythe country, CHG’s members had to a complex project within a tight
making venture — a goal that
“use every methodology we could time frame. With no connections
does interest the venture’s corpoin the industry or the country,
think of to find a way to put this
rate partners. Suggestions ranged
CHG’s members had to “use every
project together, to gain pe from selling shares in the hydrogen
methodology we could think of to find
venture to foreign governments to laying
a
way
to put this project together, to gain
ople’s trust and respect,
a cable under the Atlantic in order to sell
people’s trust and respect, and get them
and get them to
energy in the United Kingdom. The best way
to talk to us.” The secret, he says, was first doing
talk to us.”
forward, CHG concluded, would be to offer consulting
the necessary research, so members were
several ways INE could turn
services and, if INE finds a demand, eventually license
“really prepared from the outset.”
39
Gone Global
AUSTRALIA:
Wine With a Twist
GOAL: To explore the feasibility of marketing single-serving bottles of Australian sparkling Shiraz to women in the United States.
STRATEGY: The team talked with Australian vineyard
One Australian marketing executive
who works with wineries told the
group, “I want to take your
idea and run with it.”
While their concept probably wouldn’t work for a start-up
operators and with marketers and retailers to learn about
Australian winery, it might for an established business wanting
marketing strategies and the wine packaging supply chain.
to pursue a new market, the group concluded. And in, fact,
RESULT: Team members concluded that their idea would not
one Australian marketing executive who works with wineries told
be feasible for an Australian start-up but might work for
the group, “I want to take your idea and run with it,” Chow says.
a going concern.
The executive even offered to buy the concept. “We ended up saying,
‘Just take it; you helped us.’”
Team members Josh Gooch, Sam Goichman, Dominic Maher, Peter
The Australia group learned that once you’ve explored a business
Mallias, David Seaman, and Amy Chow, all EMBA ’06, visited Sydney
idea, there’s no shame in deciding to reject it. “It’s just as important
and Adelaide to explore new ways to sell Australian wine to Ameri-
to say no as it is to say yes,” Chow stresses. “If you can turn down
can women. Is it feasible, they asked, to market a sparkling Shiraz
ideas and justify it, that’s probably more important than to run
in an elegant single-serving bottle with a twist-off cap?
with every idea you have.”
Once members of the team determined that they wanted their
project to focus on wine, they visited a Connecticut vineyard for
inspiration. The vineyard’s manager, who is married to a wine
distributor, made some intriguing observations about wine and
women. She explained how women shop for wine, discussed their
dislike of corkscrews, and pointed out the industry’s failure to target
them. “Three hours and a couple of wine tastings later, we had our
idea,” says Chow, manager of the technology adoption program
at IBM Corp. in Somers, N.Y.
By surveying friends and colleagues about their wine-buying
habits, and corresponding via email with scores of potential sources
in Australia, the team honed its plans for a feasibility study.
In October, members flew to Sydney, where they found a wine festival
in full swing. There, the team bombarded exhibitors with questions,
such as “How did you pick your bottles?’ and “How did you design
your labels?” Chow says.
Teammates Sam Goichman and Amy Chow, both EMBA ’06, pepper a
winemaker with questions while sampling an Australian red
at the Hunter Valley Wine Festival in Sydney.
Next they flew to Adelaide, a great place to network with
growers and marketers, noted Chow. Starting out with a meeting
on Friday and a full day on Monday, the team found that “suddenly
our Tuesday was packed and our Wednesday was packed,
because all these people wanted us to meet others.”
wine start-up should not promote single-serving bottles to women
in the United States A market may well exist, but “individual bottles
are more expensive to make, they’re heavier to ship, you’ve got to make
more labels,” Chow explained. Once team members understood the
costs, they decided the enterprise wasn’t feasible.
Photos courtesy of Amy Chow
In the end, the team determined that its hypothetical Australian
The Australia team investigated marketing single-serving bottles
of Australian wines, such as these, to American women.
BOSNIA:
Moving Forward,
Stitch by Stitch
GOAL: To create a business plan for marketing Bosnian
Handicrafts’ children’s clothing in upscale shops in New York.
STRATEGY: Team explored Bosnia to learn about the culture
and economic situation, visited a Bosnian Handicrafts
production facility and retail store, and met with company
executives and workers.
RESULT: Team suggested hiring a part-time representative
in Manhattan to get products into high-end boutiques,
promote products through craft fairs and other avenues,
The Bosnian team poses together with Bosnian Handicrafts staff
at their store in Sarajevo. From left: Katherina Ansink, EMBA ’06,
BH office manager Seila Brkovic, BH CEO Lejla Radoncic,
Shirley Hu, EMBA ’06, and Ronica Logani, EMBA ’06.
and manage inventory.
Katherina Ansink, Shirley Hu, and Ronica Logani, all EMBA ’06,
researched Bosnia before they flew to that country, but their
best source of information turned out to be their hired driver.
“He really educated us on what a typical Bosnian person’s lifestyle
is like,” says Logani, an associate in leveraged finance with
Merrill Lynch in New York.
That lifestyle, they found, is marked by high prices and a 60 percent
unemployment rate in a country that hasn’t fully recovered from
in coffee shops drinking one cup of coffee for four hours,” observes
Ansink, a New York-based banker.
Ansink, Hu, and Logani visited Tuzla and Sarajevo to learn
about Bosnian Handicrafts (BH), a not-for-profit enterprise that
markets clothing and toys hand-knitted by local women.
Founded in 1995, BH employs more than 300 knitters, all women
Photos courtesy of Katherina Ansink
its terrible civil war. Too many people “spend their afternoons
Sajma Alic, Bosnian Handicrafts manager of quality control
of limited means, many of them war widows and many with just
a few years of schooling.
BH sells its wares through a store in Sarajevo, a Web site
The Johnson School team created a formal plan for marketing
BH’s beautifully-crafted children’s clothing to upscale New York
(www.bhcrafts.org), and several catalogues. Wives of diplomats have
City boutiques. They recommended hiring a part-time employee to
also spread the word by bringing items home and showing them
manage inventory in New York, work with shop owners, sell items
to friends. Knitters who work for BH earn enough money to support
at local craft fairs, and place ads in local newsletters. BH recently
their families.
hired an East Coast distributor in the United States, and Ansink
Ten years after a war that
brought “tragedies and violence
has continued to work with the
organization as a volunteer.
The Bosnia team found that
The Bosnia group’s best source of
when you do business in another
information turned out to be their
working in a craft they love and,
country, persistence and a show
hired driver. “He really educated of good faith go a long way toward
most of all, working side by side with
us on what a typical Bosnian building trust. Besides learning about
women who are Christian and Muslim,
breaking down the ethnic barriers that
Bosnian culture from their driver — using
person’s lifestyle
have existed for centuries,” Ansink says.
a Bosnian-English dictionary, gestures and drawis like.”
that we cannot imagine,” knitters
at BH are “getting ahead in life,
ings to communicate — the team spent hours trying
41
Gone Global
on clothes and buying gifts in the BH store, and they pored over
MORE TEAMS
TAKE ON THE WORLD
documents provided by Lejla Radoncic, BH’s CEO.
This kind of up-close-and-personal research helped cement
the project’s success. Arriving as strangers in a country where
they didn’t speak the language, asking BH’s executives for their
time and information, “we could sense the skepticism at the very
beginning,” says Hu, a senior research engineer with Nokia
Together, the EMBA Classes of
2005 and 2006 conducted a total
of 27 Global Business Projects.
Some of the other investigation
topics included:
in Dallas. “But I think, eventually, they knew our genuine
interest in helping them.”
CZECH REPUBLIC:
A Piano in Every Classroom
GOAL: To discover whether a market exists in Prague for a music
CLASS OF 2005
outreach program similar to the one sponsored by the Lincoln
• Establish a phone center service in Costa Rica
Center Institute for Arts in Education.
for use by U.S. and European businesses.
• Identify the next stage for Nokia’s strategic future
in the global cell phone market.
• Determine the feasibility of opening Starbucks
franchises in India.
• Create a business plan for an Italian manufacturer
to introduce its mini-motorbikes into the global market.
STRATEGY: The team held in-person interviews with officials
from several organizations devoted to music performance
and music education, and it visited two elementary
schools in Prague.
RESULT: A market could exist in Prague for this kind
of program once the economy recovers enough to make
it economically feasible.
• Create a business plan for selling refurbished
diagnostic medical imaging equipment to health
Xin Li, Maggie Lewis, Akbar Khan, and Paul Carey, all EMBA ’05,
care providers in Brazil.
focused their Global Business Project on enhancing music education
for children in Prague, as New York’s Lincoln Center Institute for Arts
CLASS OF 2006
in Education (LCI) does in New York City. Working with the Associa-
• Research and compile an investment report
tion of Institutes for Aesthetic Education (AIAE), LCI has pioneered
on the biotechnology industry in Hungary.
a model for training and paying performing and visual artists
• Outline a plan for establishing a consulting
to collaborate with school teachers. Research that inspired the
business in Portugal.
• Determine the feasibility of implementing the Del Webb
Retirement Community Business Model in Costa Rica.
• Create a venture capital and incubator fund to invest
program shows that exposure to the arts in early childhood promotes
habits of mind that give children an academic advantage later in life.
The team wanted to see if LCI could export this concept
to Prague, a city with a rich musical heritage. Members also wondered
in two disruptive technologies — biotechnology
whether schools in Prague were already incorporating music educa-
and nanotechnology — in the Czech Republic.
tion into their teaching and, if so, whether their ideas might
• Determine the feasibility of introducing hip-hop music
and cultural products in China.
benefit U.S. programs.
Preliminary research yielded some valuable contacts, especially
Libor Novacek, an acclaimed musician, and manager of the Children’s
Opera of Prague and of Czechkoncert, a management service
for classical musicians that also organizes musical events. Novacek
“They weren’t soccer moms; they
were opera moms, and the
children were doing an
incredible job.”
“set himself up to be our guide while we were there,” says Lewis,
relationship manager and director of annual giving at the Ministers
and Missionaries Benefit Board in New York. Novacek introduced
the team to administrators at the Children’s Opera and FOK,
a not-for-profit organization that promotes music awareness.
Prague Castle is the crown jewel of Prague and hosts many music
events throughout the year. Prague’s rich musical heritage, combined
with its breadth and depth of local musical talent and resources,
make it a good candidate for introducing consistent and innovative
music education in primary and secondary schools; a steady rise in its
economy would make such a project more feasible.
The EMBA team also visited primary schools, where they were
delighted to find a piano at the back of every lower-level classroom.
When the time comes for a music lesson, “everybody just turns
around their chairs. They start clapping and doing rhythmic things
and singing,” says Li, director of service innovations and resource
planning at Cornell University’s Olin Library.
The sight of ordinary Czech parents bringing their kids
to the Children’s Opera for rehearsals reminded Li and Lewis
of U.S. families’ devotion to after-school sports. “They weren’t
soccer moms; they were opera moms, and the children were doing
an incredible job,” Lewis says.
In their report, the team suggested that a “Prague Partnership
for Aesthetic Education” could succeed in the city, but not quite yet.
Given the current state of the Czech economy, neither a local not-forprofit nor the Prague schools could afford to collaborate on a program
like Lincoln Center’s, Li says “But,” she adds, “we feel the richness
of the music history and education, and there definitely
is a potential market there.”
The Prague team observed teachers in typical class settings leading
students ages 6 through 9 in singing Czech songs (both solo and
group) while playing the piano, in between more routine class studies
in crafts, math, science, and the Czech language. They found that participatory music education for students ages 10–15 is less consistent
than among younger students.
The Prague group faced the same challenges every team faced:
working closely with teammates in a foreign environment
on a demanding assignment with a short timeline. And, like the
others, they rose to the occasion and learned what it takes to pull
it off. “You must be very disciplined and dedicated to crank this out,”
Photos courtesy of Xin Li
says Li. Learning to collaborate under stress “is very, very important.”
Left: The Prague team enjoys a lunch with Libor Novacek, manager
of the Children’s Opera of Prague and of Czechkoncert, and also
a gracious and invaluable guide. From left: Paul Carey, EMBA ’05,
Novacek, and Xin Li, Akbar Khan, and Maggie Lewis, all EMBA ’05.
43
C L A SS SS
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classes that will have
a reunion in 2006
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Mail us at Alumni Affairs, The Johnson School at Cornell University,
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THE
1950s
C L A S S OF 1953
well-known philanthropist
C L A S S OF 19 67
He joins the company from
to the Johnson School through
Stephen Mark Zipper is a
Cornell University, where he
his support of the Roy H. Park
partner and tax accountant
was founding director of the
Leadership Fellowship Pro-
with Dewey Ballantine LLP
Center for Entrepreneurship
Since Robert Temkin retired
gram, funded first by the Park
in New York City; his wife,
at the school of Hotel
and sold his business to Ameri-
Foundation, then by the Triad
Linda Lee, is a payroll ac-
Administration.
health Bergen, he has been
Foundation. In addition, he
a Medicare counselor affiliated
countant with Molloy Brothers
serves as a member of the
with the Medicare Health
Trucking in Old Bethage, N.Y.;
Johnson School’s Advisory
their son, Stanley, is a senior sys-
Norton N. Bonaparte Jr.,
Insurance Information
Council and as a trustee of
tems engineer with Raytheon
MPA ’77, was elected 2006
Counseling Assistance Program,
Cornell University. Roy and
Corp. in Arlington, Mass., and
president of the New Jer-
and directs programs from the
his family also support UNC’s
daughter, Eliza, is earning her
sey Municipal Management
General Hospital of Rochester
School of Journalism and Mass
master’s degree in education at
Association, which seeks to
and other satellite sites.
Communication through the
the Jewish Theological Semi-
improve the quality of local
Roy H. Park Fellowships for
nary in Manhattan.
government through profes-
C L A S S OF 1956
Dean F. Bock was elected to a
sional management, and is
graduate students and the Triad
Foundation.
four-year term on the
C L A S S OF 197 7
C L A S S OF 19 6 8
allied with the International
Robert S. Sullivan is the
City and County Management
Robert Strahota retired from
founding dean of the University
Association. The city admin-
a 41-year career “split nearly
of California at San Diego’s
istrator of Plainfield, Norton
evenly between private law
new Rady School of Manage-
is also an adjunct instructor at
practice and the U.S. Securities
ment, the first new business
Rutgers University’s Graduate
and Exchange Commission,”
school to be founded at a major
Department of Public Policy
during which he managed the
research university in decades.
and Administration.
SEC’s largely USAID-funded
Robert brings to this challenge
technical assistance programs
his experience as dean of two
David M. Bowen was named
Roy Park received a distin-
for emerging securities
business schools — at Carnegie
assistant administrator of infor-
guished alumnus award from
programs in over 35 develop-
Mellon University and at
mation services and CIO
the University of North Caro-
ing countries, including China,
North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler
lina on UNC’s University Day,
India, Poland, and Russia.
Business School.
Oct. 12. The award is presented
Upon his retirement, Bob
to “alumni who had distin-
established a securities and
guished themselves in a
governance consulting practice,
manner that brought credit
Strahota Capital Markets LLC,
to the university.” Roy, who
and has assisted the Vietnamese
is president and CEO of Park
government in developing their
Outdoor Advertising in Ithaca,
country’s capital market and
earned his bachelor’s degree
regulatory structure.
Cornell University Council.
Dean and his wife, Barbara,
who is also on the council, live
in Sarasota, Fla.
THE
1960s
C L A S S OF 19 63
from UNC in 1961. Roy is a
THE
1970s
C L A S S OF 1975
Edward A. Evans was named
EVP, human resources and organizational development,
for Allied Waste Industries Inc.,
a waste services company.
Bowen ’77
of the Federal Aviation
Administration. He was
formerly SVP and CIO at Blue
Shield of Calif. David joins the
FAA’s senior management team
Arete Passas, MBA ’79:
as its principal advisor on
information technology,
THE BUSINESS
of play
to direct the agency’s overall
strategic IT planning and
Once upon a time a woman named Arete Passas
budget supporting its critical
had to make a tough decision about crayons.
administrative, business,
It was her feeling, and the feeling of many
and operational needs.
of her colleagues at Crayola, that some of the
In addition to his technical
colors in the company’s box of sixty-four were
and leadership background,
too similar and that new, more vibrant colors —
David has more than 25 years
like teal and cerulean and watermelon —
of flying experience and holds
should take their place. Many worried there
Courtesy of Arete Passas
an FAA commercial pilot license.
C L A S S OF 1978
Arlene Richman is an attorney
with Latham & Watkins LLP,
would be a backlash, as there had been with
New Coke. But what happened was quite the
opposite: When the new product came out,
people rushed out in droves both to hoard the
old versions and try out the new version. “When you talked with kids, they were really happy,”
a Chicago law firm.
Passas says, “and if a kid is happy, Mom is thrilled.”
Ten years later, Passas continues to be in the business of making kids and moms happy, now as CEO
Marc Schlussel was elected
of the Minneapolis-based Manhattan Toy. Best known as the makers of Whoozits infant toys and the
chairman of Teaneck Economic
popular Groovy Girl doll line, Manhattan Toy is a good fit, according to Passas, because they try,
Development Corporation
as she does, to be innovative and promote products that have a wholesome image: “When you look
in Teaneck, NJ. Marc is a partner
at one of our products, you smile.”
with Key Properties LLC, which
A self-proclaimed twelve-year old at heart, Passas vividly remembers the pleasure she used
owns, manages, and develops
to get putting on puppet shows for kids in the neighborhood when she was a girl growing up
commercial, retail, and residen-
in New Hampshire. Her garage was the stage, the marionettes — bought from a Sears, Roebuck and Co.
tial properties.
catalog — were named Hansel and Gretel, and the plays’ plots were made up on the fly. It is this kind
of imaginative play that Passas says she hopes Manhattan Toy products inspire in today’s
C L A S S OF 1979
generation of girls and boys.
Gopal Kamat has his own
For many years, Manhattan Toy products had been sold almost exclusively in specialty outlets.
business, BIZADVISE, which
Now, under Passas’ leadership, the company’s products are entering chain stores like Target and
helps major corporations
Toys “R” Us, and seeing double-digit growth in Europe. “It’s a very competitive market,” Passas says,
in India with joint ventures,
“so if you’re a leader you have to continue to lead. One of the things you’re always trying to think of is,
strategy and service innovation,
‘What’s the next thing?’” — Mark Rader
process redesign, market
research, organizational
development, and turnarounds.
Gopal sees a “buoyant and
optimistic climate in business
in India,” despite challenges
THE
1980s
C L A S S OF 198 0
Service Interactive, a restaurant
G. Sivalingam , PhD Ag ’83, was
service company. He has held
appointed professor of business
senior marketing positions
at Monash University, and is the
at a number of companies,
acting head of the university’s
business school.
with infrastructure, corruption,
Bruce D. Goldberg was named
including Brink’s Home
and bureaucracy, all of which
CMO of the International
Security, CBEO, Procter &
he expects will improve.
Securities Exchange, the world’s
Gamble, Frito-Lay, and Pizza
largest equity options exchange.
Hut, and was a cofounder of the
William Raisch is the founding
Bruce joined ISE in 2001, having
Options Industry Council.
director of New York Univer-
been SVP of marketing with
C L A S S OF 1981
sity’s International Center for
45
CLASS
Enterprise Preparedness (Inter-
state, and local government
to private business, which is,
CEP), formed to help businesses
agencies charged with emergen-
he says, “where most of us live
prepare for major emergencies,
cy response. Bill, a FEMA master
and work and play.
such as terrorist attacks or
trainer and former advisor
natural disasters, by creating
to the 9/11 Commission,
their own disaster plans
is taking the message
Eric Beringause has joined
in cooperation with federal,
of emergency preparedness
Alcoa as president,
C L A S S OF 1982
Beringhause ’82
Rand Wentworth, MBA ’82:
CHAMPION OF
green acres
As a boy growing up in Minnesota, Rand
Wentworth camped and fished, and,
every Sunday after church, hiked through the
woods by his house with his family.
As a Cornellian in the 1980s, he cleared his head
by running along the rolling hills on the outskirts
Courtesy of Land Trust Alliance
of Ithaca and walking along the gorge trails.
Today, Wentworth shares his love of nature
with his two sons. Together, they go crabbing
and kayaking on the Chesapeake Bay, and crosscountry skiing in the woods near his house
in Annapolis, Maryland.
It is Wentworth’s affinity for wide open spaces that led him to his current position as president
of the Land Trust Alliance (www.lta.org), a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit devoted to supporting the
country’s private land conservation community. One of the major responsibilities of the LTA and the
individual land trusts it supports is to help landowners who want to preserve their property find
financially advantageous ways to do so.
“People who own land love their land,” Wentworth says. “What we do is try to find the creative
packages that allow people to do what in their hearts they want to do, but create a bridge to their heads
as well.” Land trusts, Wentworth explains, either buy land for permanent protection, accept donations
of land or the funds to buy land, or accept the donation of a conservation easement, which limits the
type and scope of development that can take place on the land.
Since 1982, when the LTA was founded, the amount of land trusts in America has tripled,
from about 450 then to nearly 1,500 today, a number that represents 34 million protected acres.
But there is much work still to be done. “We develop 2.3 million acres every year while we’re conserving
only 800,000 a year,” Wentworth says. His goal for the future? One acre set aside for permanent
conservation for every acre developed. To this end, he is currently working with Congress to find ways
to encourage landowners to donate development rights on their property through tax incentives.
In Wentworth’s view, too many people believe land preservation is a nice amenity, but not essential.
It is this attitude that he and the members of the LTA hope to change.
“Our well-being as communities and individuals depends on that connection to natural beauty,
to great places to play,” he says. “As a human community, if all we do is build, build, build and don’t set
aside those places where we renew our spirits, we will have built ourselves into a box.” — Mark Rader
Alcoa consumer products,
bringing with him extensive
international marketing
and business development
experience. Eric was formerly
SVP and head of international
strategy for Gerber infant and
baby products at Novartis,
a world leader in pharmaceuticals and consumer health.
C L A S S OF 1983
Adil Ahmad was named general
manager for alliances with the
ANZ Group, after five years as
general manager of ANZ
Vietnam. In this newly created
position, Adil will be responsible for generating value
out of the strategic equity
investment ANZ has made
in Vietnam’s leading local
private bank, Sacombank.
He will be based in the
Sacombank head office
in Ho Chi Minh City. Adil also
serves on the Sacombank
board of directors.
Daniel Shure sends word
that his son, Raphael, graduated from Cornell last May and
works at Cambridge Associates
in Boston as a research associate
in private equity; he hopes Rafi
will be back at Cornell in a few
years for an MBA. Dan and his
wife, Jory, also have children
Jacob, 19, Sigglit, 2, and Simone,
born February 2006.
live in Colorado Springs with
dinosaurs, and the coffee
Akber Zaidi has been appointed
Cindy Carter Howard , PhD
their children, Elizabeth
is guaranteed fresh.
CIO of Pi Capital Inc.,
’84, reports that after 20 years
and John. His Web site
in graduate health education
is at fawcett4congress.com.
C L A S S OF 198 4
administration, she has left the
C L A S S OF 1987
field and is pursuing a master
David L. Dyckman has been
of divinity degree at the Epis-
appointed SVP and CFO
copal Theological Seminary of
of American Tire Distributors
the Southwest in Austin, Texas,
Holdings Inc., a nationwide
studying for the priesthood.
distributor of tires, wheels and
automotive service equipment.
Jack Snyder has joined Guy
David was formerly EVP
Carpenter & Company Inc.,
and CFO of Thermadyne
a leading global risk and
Holdings Corp.
and is responsible for the overall
John Scuteri is a partner
direction, administration,
with Veritable LP, a financial
and promotion of the firm’s
advisory firm. He is responsible
investment practices. Akber
for the continued development
was formerly adviser and
and execution of Veritable’s
portfolio manager with
business strategy, as well
Citigroup Smith Barney’s
as its general management.
private client services division.
John was formerly a director
at U.S. Trust, and a managing
director at Bear Stearns and
Karen Sheedy Johnson was
Goldman Sachs.
named corporate ombudsman
for Bristol-Meyers Squibb. She
reinsurance specialist within
the Marsh & McLennan
C L A S S OF 198 8
THE
1990s
Companies, as managing direc-
Douglas Irons was promoted
tor and manager of business
to accounting manager with
development for the Americas.
Utilities Analyses Inc., a chemi-
Janet A. Carr was appointed
He was formerly CMO
cal and energy manufacturing
SVP, consumer insights and
for American Re, where he was
company in Duluth, Ga.
strategic planning, of Coach
C L A S S OF 19 9 0
responsible for a wide range
of marketing activities.
C L A S S OF 1985
be resolved through established
channels, and will provide
oversight and monitoring
in compliance-related investi-
U.S. Pharmaceuticals’ cardiovas-
co-authored Elite Clubs of India
advocacy and food bank
(2005), a 450-page book, illus-
organization in Milwaukee.
trated with 1,100 photographs,
Charles lives in Shorewood,
Carr ’90
that profiles over 100 clubs.
Wisc., with his wife of 11 years,
Inc., a leading marketer
K.E. Supriya, daughter, Ranjana,
of American accessories.
7, and son, Skyler, 5.
Janet joined Coach from Gap
cular and metabolics sales team.
She lives in New Jersey with her
Inc., where she was VP, strategy
C L A S S OF 1989
related issues that cannot easily
HR director for the company’s
for Hunger Task Force Inc.,
a nonprofit anti-hunger
and senior policy analyst with
and reviewing employment-
company in 1992, was formerly
to director of development
lieutenant colonel, USAF,
is responsible for investigating
gations. Karen, who joined the
Charles Vestal was promoted
Purushotam Bhageria
John M. Fawcett , a retired
C L A S S OF 19 92
and business development,
Science Applications Interna-
Gene Mage and his wife, Anne,
tional Corporation, is running
own Storylines Bookstore
as a Democratic candidate for
& Café in Watkins Glen, N.Y.,
Congress in 2006. In his cam-
seizing the opportunity “to open
Michael W. Wais is VP
paign message he champions
a business they could really
of Network Appliance,
a new military to respond
enjoy” when a local bookstore
a manufacturer of computer
to post Cold War military
came up for sale. Gene and Anne
storage products in Sunnyvale,
requirements, citing both his
focus on offering in-depth
Calif., where he manages the
own military experience —
selections in areas of their cus-
company’s relationships with
including combat in Iraq during
tomers’ interest, such as racing
suppliers. He married Lisa
the Gulf War — and his present
cars, chocolate, coffee and wine.
Beth Podos on Oct. 22 in
work as a defense contractor.
The store also has a children’s
Montecito, Calif.
Jay and his wife, Susan,
corner complete with stuffed
of Banana Republic.
husband, Chip, a police officer,
and daughter, MacKenzie.
Eugene H. LeCouteur reports
that he is back in school,
studying for a master’s degree
in Christian education
at Union Theological Seminary
C L A S S OF 19 91
in Richmond, Va. Gene also
serves as board chairman for
the Fredericksburg area
HIV/AIDS support services.
William T. Tara is SVP and
CEO of Emergency Medical
Services Corp. Before joining
EMS, he was CIO for American
Medical Response, and he has
also served as VP and CIO
47
for Teletech Holdings Inc.,
has included leadership roles
department, covering machin-
on entrepreneurship, at the
where he was responsible for
in healthy foods start-ups
ery and waste companies, and
University of Virginia’s Darden
global technology, including
as well as established
small- and mid-capitalization
Graduate School of Business
software development, profes-
companies, including Shaklee
industrials. He was formerly
Administration.
sional services, and technology
and Cold Fusion Foods.
research associate with UBS
operations in 13 countries.
C L A S S OF 19 95
C L A S S OF 19 93
Laurent Paty and his wife,
Dora Jih, who was profiled
Helene, announce the birth
in the fall ’05 issue of Cornell
of their second son, Matthieu,
Enterprise, reports that her busi-
on Oct. 22.
ness, Season Tees, has grown so
much that “I’m not making all
C L A S S OF 19 9 6
Securities LLC. Seth and his
Justine Bakule and his wife,
wife welcomed a daughter,
Joanna, joined the Peace Corps
Julia Arden, born Sept. 23.
a year ago and moved to Mali,
West Africa. They serve in the
C L A S S OF 19 98
regional capital of Gao, on the
Seth Alvord has joined CRT
edge of the Sahara Desert and
Investment Banking as VP.
about 350km from Timbuktu.
He was formerly VP of
Justine is a business volunteer
the tees myself any longer,”
William F. Bird is president
Morgan Stanley’s financial
with the Malian Ministry
she writes. Her products are
of RedZin Development in
sponsors group.
of Tourism, and Joanna works
now available in retail stores
Chapel Hill, N.C. His company
in Hawaii, throughout Califor-
has developed a 70-acre land
Marco Baratta has taken
nia, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
tract into a residential subdivi-
a new job with Thingmagic,
and Arizona.
sion, Tuscany Ridge, where
a Cambridge, Mass. start-up that
Harry Brandicourt is director
he and his family now live.
focuses on RFID technology.
of global eBusiness for Ken-
Mike Riccetti reports that
“It is good to develop the neigh-
He was married in Montreal last
nametal, Latrobe, Pa. He was
he has incorporated “years
borhood the way you want it,”
summer to Kristen Bacon.
formerly IT director at Emerson
of personal, if not professional,
he writes. William and his wife,
experience, including things
Ann Bridget, welcomed their
Charles Severs joined CRT
and his wife have four children,
picked up during the two years
second child, Gillian Chloe.
Investment Banking in August
two boys and two girls.
at the Johnson School,” to co-
as a health volunteer in
a local clinic.
in St. Louis, Mo. Harry
2002. He formerly was VP
author a fun and practical book,
Michael Dunaway is the
of Credit Suisse First Boston’s
Jeff Bass has left Procter
The Guide to Ridiculously Easy
Southeast regional director for
mergers and acquisitions group.
& Gamble to join his wife,
Entertaining: Tips from Marfreless
Congressional Quarterly Press. He
Anupendra Sharma has been
Kerri, in expanding her market
(Tempus Fugit Press, 2005).
married Gates Kellet July 9, and
appointed investment partner
research company, Illumination
The book is available in book-
the couple lives in Decatur, Ga.
at Siemens Venture Capital
Research Inc. Jeff and Kerri
in Boston. Anupendra will
live in Cincinnati, Ohio,
be responsible for investing
with their son, Collin, 1.
stores throughout the country,
and on Amazon.com.
C L A S S OF 19 94
C L A S S OF 19 97
Virginia Jay (Linley)
in medical-related early stage
Grandison , associate director,
ventures through SVC’s
Paul Belle Isle has moved from
Lara Jackle is CEO of LightFull
brand and product manage-
Medical Solutions Fund.
Sprint to start a new job as
Foods (www.lightfullfoods.
ment, with Johnson & Johnson,
Siemens Venture Capital is one
director of loyalty and retention
com), a company pioneering
is working on the company’s
of the world’s largest corporate
marketing for Charter Commu-
“satiety” (learning how to feel
Olympic sponsorship marketing
venture capital firms with
nications in St. Louis.
satisfied with fewer calories)
team and “spending lots
approximately $1 billion under
He was married Oct. 15
as a sustainable strategy for
of time in China!”
management, and has offices
in Kansas City, Mo.
eating right. LightFull recently
in the United States, Germany,
launched its first product,
Seth Weber has been named VP
LightFull Satiety Smoothie,
and research analyst
China, and Israel.
in three companies in Jackson-
C L A S S OF 19 9 9
ville, Fla., and moved there
to help run the businesses.
in Whole Foods and Wegmans.
at Banc of America Securities,
Lara’s experience in bringing
New York City, where he works
Jeff Archer is pursuing his PhD
healthy foods to mass markets
in the firm’s equity research
in management, with a focus
Jeff Broadhead has invested
Chris Burmeister is product
“living the dream for the last
in Bethesda, Md., writes:
and he and his wife, Katia, and
manager with a NASA
year and a half — I quit my job
“It is exciting to be able to make
daughter, Helena, 1, have moved
contractor, Jacobs Sverdrup,
at Unilever to climb mountains.”
money while making the world
to Cambridge, Mass.
a safer place.” USEC is the U.S.
in Houston, Texas. His group
manages hardware that pro-
Julie Pomeranz Gosset
government’s executive agent
Paul Snyder and his wife,
vides visual cues for astronauts
is product manager for the Blue
for the Megatons to Megawatts
Amy Leigh Malkin, report from
while they attach modules to
Cash from American Express.
program, which recycles weap-
Atlanta, Ga., that Paul is VP
the International Space Station.
She and her husband, Steve,
ons-grade uranium into fuel
of operations business devel-
welcomed their first child,
used by electric utilities
opment for InterContinental
Ryan Foster, born May 5, 2005.
to generate electricity. Mick and
Hotels Group, while Amy
David Crescenzi was married
his wife, Lynn, also announce
is an independent marketing
Dave Grash reports that he
the arrival in March 2005 of
consultant for companies such
Rick Cura has moved from
has been involved in ventures
their first daughter, Vivian Elise,
as UPS and Georgia Pacific.
N.J. to Los Angeles, taking a job
other than his job with Sprint:
who was welcomed by her two
They have a daughter, Abby, 1.
transfer within Johnson
In 2004, for example, he bought
brothers, Paul, 6, and Nicky, 3.
& Johnson to become director
and sold a wireless ISP within
of supply chain management for
a two-week period, “pumping
Wens McCormick is the
over Labor Day. Classmates
Neutrogena, “which is literally
up the price 25x.” He and his
regional account manager
attending the wedding included
based at LAX airport.”
wife, Sandra, have four children,
for Motorola Latin America,
Marianne Danko and
including twin boys.
responsible for the business
husband, Evan, Mark Elsner,
Oct. 15, in New York City.
John Wolfe married Colette
for Latin America of the TIM-
Julie Pomerantz Gosset and
Intel in Shanghai, China.
Hank Heilesen is senior brand
Telecom Italia Mobile account.
husband, Steve, Lori Harris,
He and his wife, Paula Uribe-
manager for Capital One,
Wens lives in São Paulo, Brazil,
Phil Hsia and wife, Anita,
Echevarria, MBA ’98,
working in the company’s brand
with his wife, Victoria,
Erica Isono, Fran McLean,
welcomed their second daugh-
strategy group. Hank and his
and three children, Patrick, 5,
Mike Princi and wife, Kat,
ter, Emma Rose, born June 17.
wife, Brooke, and their three
Connor, 3, and Jack, 1.
and Lalita Ramachandran and
She joins big sister, Isabela.
children live in Glen Allen, Va.
Michael de la Cruz works for
husband, Krishna. Thaddeus
Susan Menkhaus and
King and Gautam Khanna
Deborah King Garber has
Mike Keogh is the finance
Scott Jaffe, MBA ’98, welcomed
served as groomsmen and
joined Albertson’s in Boise,
controller for Intel’s finance
their second child, Hank,
ushers, and Xavier Lee came all
Idaho, as a banner brands
operations in the Philippines,
born Aug. 29.
the way from Korea. Class of
manager, coming to her new
where he and his family moved
job from a marketing position
after Mike completed a yearlong
Tom Mikula and his wife,
Pedro Arboleda, Laura
at Gallo Winery. She married
assignment in Malaysia.
Missy, announce the birth of
Bianchini , and Bethlam Forsa .
a son, Dylan, born May 5, 2005.
Colette and John live in
Joseph (Joe) Garber, in October,
’97 friends attending included
and the couple moved to Eagle,
Tony Lau works for Motorola
Idaho. Joe is a senior marketing
in global product marketing
Scot Neuman continues to work
is working on screenplays and
manager for Zantaz, an email
and product management,
for IBM in marketing strategy
developing a pilot for a TV show.
archiving company, and works
and his wife, Yvonne, is with
for their business consulting
from home.
the valuations services practice
services out of his home
of Bearing Point. Tony and
in Norwich, Vt., where he lives
Yvonne live Evanston, Il.
with his wife, Amy, and chil-
Dana Gerrity reports that
Los Angeles, where John
dren, Annie, Henry, and Emma.
he has settled in Seattle and
now works at REI headquarters
Mick Mastilovic, manager
doing corporate finance after
of forecasting, analysis, and
Andy Orth reports that
planning with U.S. Enrichment
he accepted a position with
Corporation (USEC)
Genzyme Pharmaceuticals,
THE
2000s
CLASS OF 2000
Adam Ailloni-Charas and
Angela Ailloni-Charas live
in Minneapolis, Minn., where
Adam is the consumer marketing manager for video games
49
and music at Best Buy Corpo-
consultant at Wyeth Consumer
rate. They have two sons,
Healthcare in Madison, N.J.,
Adin, 3, and Eli, 1.
while Ken is a brand manager
for Colgate Total at Colgate
Jonathan Alford reports that
Palmolive in New York City.
he is in the resort business,
working for Intrawest,
John M. Godfrey and Claudia
the developer of Whistler,
Khan ’00
Wu Godfrey announce the
Massaglia ’02
Mammoth, and Stratton,
amassing a portfolio of 250,000
birth on Sept. 11 of their second
Massaglia June 4, 2005, and they
and the host of the mountain
key words and phrases
daughter, Daniella, who joins
are “enjoying the fun that comes
events for the Vancouver Olym-
by bidding on keywords on the
sister, Alexandra, 2. John is a
with building a new house.”
pics in 2010. He and his wife,
major search engines. Each time
manager with Accenture’s
Kate, have two children, Molly,
a Web surfer types one of those
supply chain management
Eric Motter is AVP of benefit
3, and Oliver, born in October.
words in a search, an E-LOAN
practice in Atlanta.
development for CIGNA
HealthCare, responsible for
ad appears next to the results,
CLASS OF 2002
driving product solutions for the
Sandy Draper says that after
and E-LOAN’s advertising team
five years with consulting
pays the price bid for each click.
Corinne Murphy married
company’s voluntary market
management firm Pittiglio
As Imran crunches his stash
Eric Christensen in September
strategy. He also recruits
Rabin Todd & Mcgrath, where
of words, calculating the return
2004. Cori is a compensation,
at the Johnson School for
she worked with clients in com-
on investment (half of the
benefits, and HRIS manager
CIGNA’s HealthCare Leadership
puter peripherals and medical
company’s ad budget) for thou-
at Honeywell, and Eric is a
program. Eric and his wife,
devices, she and her husband,
sands of bids hour by hour,
veterinarian. They recently
Jen, are the parents of Dominic,
Joel, adopted a baby girl from
he accumulates massive feed-
bought a house in Flemington,
2, and Nina, 1.
China, and she became a stay-
back from customers.
N.J., and are considering home
at-home mom. Sandy serves on
improvement plans.
Gene Rendino says he is
“getting back to his geek roots.”
the board of directors for her
Brian Thompson launched
homeowners’ association —
his Santa Barbara, Calif. micro-
Anthony Moon reports he is
After two years at Praxair,
“a volunteer position that
brewery, Telegraph Brewing Co.,
still with Mars Inc., managing
he has taken a position
requires all of my MBA skills”
after “a year and a half
the firm’s futures trading as the
as senior operational manager
— and is active with the Cornell
of planning, raising capital,
cocoa price risk manager.
at Corning Inc., where he works
Alumni Association.
fighting with Santa Barbara city
He writes that he is “enjoying
on global manufacturing,
officials, and wrangling oh-so-
the smell of chocolates” and
supply chain, and logistics,
Erik Jepson and Helene
laid-back California contrac-
“trying to get through third-
primarily for Corning Display
Johannessen Jepson welcomed
tors.” He thanks fellow alums,
world political situations that
Technologies (LCD glass).
a baby girl, Astrid Ward,
notably classmates Chris Floyd,
affect the cocoa market.”
He also heads strategic planning
born Aug. 3. Erik has joined
Peter Bright, Austin Rothbard,
Charles Schwab in San Fran-
Barbara Sullivan, and Chad
Justin O’Keeffe is leading the
cisco as director of marking for
Updyke, MBA ’01, for their help
redevelopment of a former mill
eBusiness, and Helene works
and support during this
complex near Dublin, Ireland,
Chia-Lin Simmons writes:
at Morgan Stanley.
“unbelievable adventure.”
as a tourist attraction expected
“After an intense summer
to be completed in late 2007.
of studying and 4 months
Imran Khan is the director
for MT&E, Corning’s corporate
CL ASS OF 2001
engineering division.
of panic unknowing I found
of search advertising
Susie Welgos Christensen and
Diane Fleck Massaglia
out I passed the New York bar
at E-LOAN, an online lender.
Kenneth J. Christensen, MBA
is a product manager in new
exam!” She works at Audible
He has turned the company’s
’02 , welcomed their first child,
business development for Tyco
Inc., an Internet audio
advertising operation into
Daniel Zack, born Sept. 23. Susie
Healthcare in King of Prussia,
information and entertainment
a statistical laboratory,
is an organization development
Pa. Diane married Bob
service company, managing
its wireless business.
Reid Genauer, MBA ’02:
Eirik Underthun is investment
JAM BAND
brander
controller with Telenor Nordic
Mobile, a part of the Telenor
After spending six years grinding out a living
group, which has telecommuni-
playing in a jam band called Strangefolk,
cations services holdings
Reid Genauer came to what he calls
in Europe and Asia. Eirik lives
a crossroads. His life’s dream had always been
in Oslo.
to play music for a living, but his passion
wasn’t sufficiently supporting him. He was
CLASS OF 2003
twenty-eight and recently married — adulthood
Laura Chulak relocated
was beckoning. So, in 2000, Genauer entered
to Philadelphia, Pa., and con-
Cornell’s MBA program, in search
tinues to work for Merck, doing
of some answers.
Greg Kessler
organizational development
for the company’s sales and
marketing division.
Maura Cahill Cowan and
Stewart Cowan moved
to Milwaukee in August,
and both have taken jobs
as senior associate brand managers at Miller Brewing Co.
Eric Daoût has become head
of asset liability management
insurance companies for Fortis
Group, one of the world’s top
25 financial institutions.
Eric comes to Fortis from AGF
Belgium Allianz Group in
Brussels, where he was assistant
director of strategic planning.
Adam Fitzner has joined Miller
He seems to have found some. A 2002
graduate, Genauer now lives what he calls
a “Clark Kent, double-agent” life. By day, he works in Manhattan as director of brand marketing
at eMusic (www.eMusic.com), the leading source of independent music downloads in the country,
and at night and on weekends he tours with his new jam band, Assembly of Dust, which recently played
to 15,000 people at Jones Beach in New York, and, in February, performed with legends like Judy Collins
and Lou Reed to a packed house at Carnegie Hall. Such extracurricular activities, Genauer says,
make for some above-average chatter at the water cooler.
Much of what Genauer has learned as a musician has translated in surprising ways to his
corporate job. “As the band leader and songwriter you’re sort of the business lead. And the challenge
is to establish a vision for the song and to have people invest their creative energy into it, feel invested
in it, and still feel your vision is being achieved. In any situation, whether it’s construction or artistic,
that’s the ultimate challenge.” Also important, he says, is to be able to recognize when something isn’t
working — be it a song lyric, or a business plan you’ve spent two weeks developing — and to have the
guts to change direction, painful as that may be.
Under Genauer’s leadership, eMusic recently launched its first-ever TV campaign — two sixtysecond spots featuring footage of Johnny Cash, John Coltrane, and indie favorites, the New
Pornographers, among others. Even as his company’s profile becomes bigger and his job more
challenging, Genauer plans to remain committed to playing the music he loves. He considers himself
fortunate that eMusic has afforded him the opportunity. “It’s a nice coming-together of my two worlds
into one. I like that I don’t have to be somebody else come Monday morning.” — Mark Rader
Buckfire and Co., a finance and
investment banking company,
“where I am still restructuring
companies,” he writes.
Bruce Lasko, EMBA, has been
appointed to the board of directors of the Profit Sharing/401(k)
Council of America (PSCA).
Bruce’s company, Avaya Inc.,
won the top PSCA Signature
in Puerto Rico, and welcomed
“still able to work successfully
Award for targeted communica-
a baby girl, Leah Leona,
from the U.K.” Angie reports
tions in 2004 and its 401(k)
born Oct. 4.
that the Music Playhouse has
Day effort in 2005.
recently expanded into Austin,
Angela Moster is director of the
Texas, and the San Francisco
Leslie Burrell Lewis reports
Music Playhouse LLC.
Bay Area.
“a busy 2005”: She and Tracey
She recently moved to London,
Lewis, MBA ’99, moved
where, thanks to Internet-based
Bryan Preston says he is doing
to Kansas City, Mo., got married
telephone technology, she is
great in Chicago, working
51
to build the long-term-care
side of a healthcare start-up
CLASS OF 2004
Auke Cnossen is senior associ-
Annie Oh and Michael Perlman
Brett Blumenthal and David
ate with Rabobank’s Americas
were married Nov. 5 in Pasa-
business, TLContact, Inc., which
Wax were married Sept. 10
mergers and acquisitions group,
dena, Calif. The wedding party
connects patients, families,
in Sage Chapel and report they
and works on financial sponsors
included classmate Maralla
had a “beautiful weekend
transactions. Auke, who began
Oviedo. Annie and Michael live
in Boston, Mass.
and providers through the Web.
at Cornell.” Classmates
his career with Rabobank
Shannon Ross is the energy
attending the wedding included
as an intern in 2004, is lauded
officer for the United States
Justin Stone, Jason Jones,
in the Jan. 2006 issue
Diplomatic Mission to Nigeria,
Kara Kownacki Radcliffe,
of its magazine, The World : “Auke
after having spent a “hectic
Michael Perlman, Annie Oh,
and other new employees like
but memorable” year
Kim Young, Ryan Folger, Scott
him represent the future pros-
in Afghanistan. She monitors
Christensen, Kelly Ingham,
perity we are all working
conflicts in the Niger Delta and
Cristi Brodrick, Ted Lightman,
so hard to achieve.”
Nigerian oil production, advo-
Marella Oviedo, Ted Robert-
cates for U.S. firms operating
son, Christian Stroucken,
Lawrence Meese was named
in a tough commercial environ-
and David Titus.
associate executive director
Christian Vansant and Natalie
ment, is working on launching
at the Lake Norman Regional
Heidelberg were married
an American business council,
Medical Center in North Caro-
in December in Berkeley, Calif.
and has led U.S. government
lina. He joined the hospital in
Classmates celebrating with
efforts to finance domestic
Oct. 2004, and served initially
them were John Lundquist ,
gas and power projects.
as assistant executive director.
Abhilasha Pant , Edward
Shannon describes Nigerian
Earlier in his career, Larry spent
Robertson and Jessica Rolph .
politics as “tough but wildly
10 years as a U.S. Army Special
entertaining.”
Blumenthal & Wax ’04
Oh & Perlman ’04
Forces and Medical Services
Corps officer, holding leadership
Aaron Seyuin and his wife,
Angela Chow reports that she
and managerial roles, includ-
Tracy, welcomed their first
has moved back to her home-
ing human resources manager,
child, Logan Joseph,
town, Hong Kong, for good,
detachment commander,
born Oct. 23.
explaining that after years
and company executive officer.
Vansant & Heidelberg ’04
of relocation she wanted
Dan Shur designs disease
to settle down and root some-
Jessica Crolick Rolph , COO
management and wellness pro-
where, and “Hong Kong is the
and founding partner of Nur-
grams for CIGNA HealthCare,
place.” Though sad to leave
ture Inc., reports that her
an employee benefits company.
friends in the United States,
company was chosen to receive
Angela, who has joined JP
one of five 2005 business grants
Roland Springer works in
Morgan Private Bank, is excited
for women entrepreneurs,
Washington, D.C., on assign-
about starting her new life.
awarded by Eileen Fisher
ment in the Resources
to women-run businesses
CLASS OF 2005
Sam Tingleff and his wife,
Breean, announce the arrival
of a son, Niko, in October 2005.
IN
memoriam
Committee of the U.S. House
Samuel Buchanan is working
with a social mission. Nurture
Harlan B. Bliss, MBA ’56
of Representatives. He and his
in Hong Kong for New York Life
Inc. is described in the award
William H. Wilson, MBA ’59
wife, Genevieve, welcomed
International, helping the
announcement as “a start-up
Tawat T. Yipintsoi, MBA ’60
their first son, Aaron James,
company complete the Asia-
poised to be the first U.S.-
Joseph Andrew Ditzhazy
born May 16, 2005.
wide activation of an IT system
based company to offer freshly
(attended, 1973)
that automates insurance
prepared, flash-frozen organic
administration for field agents.
meals for infants and toddlers
He also is developing or updat-
on a national scale.”
ing several Asian companies’
business strategies.
Robert Barker/CU
SAGE HALL BASKS IN THE GLOWING LIGHT OF THE SUN
Cornell Enterprise
130 E. Seneca St., Suite 400
Ithaca, NY 14850–4353
Address Service Requested
Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Ithaca, NY
Permit No. 780

Generation Next - Johnson Graduate School of Management

Transcription

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